


Lucky strike

by Inkkerfuffle



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I Don't Even Know, Marichat, chatinette, marinoir, shameless makeouts lmao, whatever we call this ship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2015-11-28
Packaged: 2018-05-03 18:21:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 43,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5301947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkkerfuffle/pseuds/Inkkerfuffle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is so much more about Marinette than he usually sees, and Adrien is beggining to want to know even more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The other side

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to leave a note: It's not forgotten, I AM finishing it (Half is done already). SO Thank you for your patience. And I hope you'll like the final chapter :)

Warmth.

That was the only word Adrien could settle on to describe Marinette. It was kind of hard to reconcile the image of the shy stuttering girl he usually saw, to the one he was noticing just now… Whenever hewasn’t around, of course.

Adrien couldn’t exactly pinpoint the exact moment when he’d began noticing the shy girl; but he’d caught them. From  _afar_ , of course. He figured that it had something to do with the fact that was still somewhat  _new._ After all, most of their classmates had been together for years already.

Sure, she could be clumsy, and sure, it wasn’t like she wasn’t nervous sometimes; judging by the flailing freak outs he saw Alya  _contain,_ but there was  _more_.Granted, he expected her to be warm towards Alya, they  _were_ best friends; but he had realized that her warmth extended to almost  _all_ their classmates. She would share a lovely smile to them, and he had _noticed_ , that she’d brought small presents for their birthday. Nino had gotten a lovely case for his headphones, for instance. Alya a new shirt, which she promptly modelled for everyone. Alix some gloves, Mylene a new headband and  _so on_.  _Everyone_  had gotten a little token of appreciation from the girl.

Except  _him_ , of course. And  _Chloé_ , Adrien figured; but he  _really_  hoped that it wasn’t an equivalent situation.

Now, he could see her from inside their school, looking through a window, right as he readied himself for his fencing lessons, as she, along with the rest of their class were leaving the school to go home. His classmates were leaving the school to go home, most of them, at least; and he could see as they all left the building, merrily chattering among themselves. Marinette was currently talking with both Nino and Alya, and her blue eyes twinkled as she laughed, before excitedly adding something, her expressive hand movements painting a picture of whatever story she was telling them. After a while, the three friends walked away, still laughing and talking together, Nino apparently making a joke or something, which earned a shoulder bump from the dark haired girl. She was so shiny and warm and free, he couldn’t help but be  _curious_  about her.

He often wondered what it was about him that wouldn’t let her  _shine_.

* * *

That same warmth that radiated from the seemingly quiet girl could be easily stoked into a raging  _fire_. And for once he had a front row view… Not that he was happy about that, but it was like a train wreck… he just couldn’t look away.

It was early monday morning, and they were all on break between their classes and sweet even  _shier_  Rose had not been looking where she was going and had collided straight on with Chloé; who was holding an opened bottle of water in her hands, spilling some on her shirt. Unfortunately Rose was just no match for the mayor’s daughter. The tiny blonde had been knocked back and was currently staring at Chloé as she stammered an apology.

But even before he could move, he saw a quick movement and Marinette was helping Rose to her feet, quietly saying something to the girl.

“God, you’re just so  _nosy_!” Chloé exclaimed, her eyes narrowed at the dark haired girl as she planted her hands on her hips. “This doesn’t concern you!”

“She  _apologized_ , Chloé,” Marinette said, clearly trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. “Just leave her alone”

“I’m talking to  _her! Not You!_ ”  The blonde said, determined to get past Marinette and finish her tantrum.

On the other side, Marinette was determined on shielding Rose, who was nervously standing behind her. “ _Enough_  Chloé, leave her alone!” Marinette insisted, her eyes narrowed back as she looked at the other girl. “Just go.”

Adrien perked up from his seat. He and Nino were sitting on the other side of the school’s patio, close enough that he could somewhat hear the girl’s argument, but not close enough to intervene. Which was something he should do,  _promptly_.

“Dude. Catfight!” Kim said, standing up to get a better look at the scene unfolding between them. Nino perked up immediately and nudged Adrien, but the blond was already fixated to the scene.

Back with the girls, Chloé was gesticulating wildly, clearly not done with the situation. “She  _damaged_  my clothes!” Chloé accused, her thin fingers gripping at the shirt; which sure, it was wet her voice rising as she glared over Marinette’s shoulder to where Rose was standing. “She needs to pay.”

“It’s  _water_. It’ll dry,” Marinette said, visibly rolling her eyes as she moved to stand in front of the girl, blocking Chloé from seeing her “you’re just taking the chance to bully her.”

“What? This is expensive, you ignorant cretin” Chloé exclaimed, her attention now clearly fixated on a new target. “And I am  _not_  a Bully!” she added, which was something she clearly believed. She poked Marinette on her shoulder, with enough strength to move it. “And just who do you think you are?!” she said, disdain dripping from her voice.

Oh. Adrien realized that they needed to intervene.  _Now_. “Come on” he said to Nino, as he pushed up from his spot and began walking towards the two girls. It was no secret that Chloé definitely didn’t like Marinette, and that the feeling was pretty much mutual; and if there was a chance of things escalating, it was between them. There  was already a small group of students surrounding the two, and Adrien knew that the last thing they all needed was an audience.

“Don’t.  _Touch_. Me.” Marinette said, her jaw locked as she gritted the words out. She was clearly trying to keep her cool in this situation; and Chloé was set on poking the proverbial sleeping bear. “You know what, you’re not worth it. You’re just a sad, sad bully,” She said, shaking her head and looking at Rose over her shoulder “Let’s go Rose.”

“Hey!” Chloé cried, clearly not done with Marinette, and still furious with the situation; she was not going to let Marinette, play the hero. “Don’t walk away from me!” she said, her hand going forward to push at the other girl’s shoulder again.

Adrien was able to witness some very good reflexes on Marinette, who swatted away at the hand, causing a very,  _very_  orchestrated fall from the blonde girl, who stumbled into Sabrina’s arms. “You  _pushed_  me!”  Chloé cried.

“What?!”

Whatever Marinette was going to say was cut short by the arrival of Ms Mendeleiv. “Girls, ENOUGH” the teacher placed a hand on each of their shoulders, “Both of you, to Mr. Damocle’s office. Now!” she then turned to the students who had been gathering around the due “And all of you. Show’s over!”

The teacher led the girls away, and everything happened just so fast, that Adrien’s only reaction was offer the girl a sympathetic smile as she was lead towards the Principal’s office.

“What did just happen?” a breathless Alya ran towards them, having missed the scene completely. Her eyes widened as she saw Marinette being lead along a smug looking Chloé to what was obviously the Principals office. “Oh no” she tugged on Nino’s sleeve. “ _Explain._ ”

Later, they were all in class, but neither Marinette nor Chloé were there yet. Alya seemed properly concerned and she had no qualms on saying just  _what_ she thought of Chloé and her involvement in this particular situation. Adrien didn’t have a good feeling about the outcome of this, and his theory was supported when just Chloé returned to the classroom and took her seat with what could only be described as a  _satisfied_  look on her face.

Soon after, a note passed between Nino and Alya, and he was able to glance at it as stealthily as humanly possible. His eyes widened when he read the text on it.  _Four day suspension?_ Adrien could just see just why Chloé looked so satisfied with herself, she’d probably played her favorite card and got the punishment upped to what was clearly an unjust measure against Marinette.

He had, after all, watched the whole scene unfold. Marinette had certainly not been at fault and sending her to the Principal’s office with Chloé was just a surefire way to ensure that the punishment was more severe than it really had to be. She had merely stood up for Rose, but of course, something went wrong and they got caught.

He should have done something before, but he just  _froze._ Marinette didn’t usually need his help, so he had lost precious seconds that might have been useful in defusing the situation  _before_ the girls got caught. Ugh, he just felt useless sometimes. He knew that what he did as Chat Noir was definitely important; but sometimes he wished he could pull out even half the bravado he sometimes had behind that mask into his civilian life.

* * *

The rest of the school day was a daze of self-doubt and self-recrimination. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty, though there was no particular reason he should have felt that way. Alya had stuck out the rest of the day hanging out with both him and Nino, all the while shooting glares at Chloé.

But now, he was home, finishing his physics homework, while Plagg replenished energies…  _as usual._

“What’s got you down kid?” he asked, floating towards his desk, and Adrien’s nose wrinkled at the stench of the cheese. “You’re being  _weirder_ than usual” the kwami pointed out, as he landed on top of the desk.

Adrien put his pencil down, turning his attention towards Plagg “I’m not being weird. I was just  _worried”_

“About the girls today?” Plagg asked, tapping his chin thoughtfully for a second “Pity they got broken apart, you know. I would have put cheese down on the… uh… what was her name again?  _Maa_   _Meeee_ , no. It was with Maas… no… that’s not it. Mar?” Plagg sounded out the syllables, as if tryinf to remember the name.

“ _Marinette_.”

“Yeah, that one,” the kwami said, before waving a tiny paw at Adrien, who did not look pleased at him “It’s not like I  _wanted_ them to fight… I’m just saying. That one could have taken Chloe  _down_.”

“And how would you know this?” Adrien asked, one blond eyebrow rising at his kwami.

“I just  _do,”_ Plagg answered. ”Ancient Powers and all that.”  

Adrien rolled his eyes but decided not to press any further on that. “Do you think she’s okay?”

“Chloe is definitely okay. Lucky even. She didn’t get punched in the face” Plagg said, before snickering at the annoyed look on Adrien’s face. “Well, I don’t know really,” the kwami said “ What is it to you?”

Adrien blushed, though he shrugged at Plagg. He was just…  _curious_. There was both concern and curiosity, battling inside his brain to see which one won. And both of them led him to Marinette. He didn’t want her getting hurt, and if her emotions were strong enough… then she could have been a target or Hawkmoth.  

Then, there was that  _curiosity_. Just how had that girl that seemed so quiet and friendly turned into a force to be reckoned, standing up to Chloé, for her friend’s sake.

The kwami looked at him, a small look that Adrien didn’t quite recognize crossing over Plagg’s face. “I don’t know. She did look pretty upset when she left,” the tiny feline said.

She had. He hadn’t seen her leave the school after going to the Principal’s office, but the look on her face as she was led towards it wasn’t one he’d seen before. Shoulders squared and jaw locked in determination. It greatly differed from the sweet demeanor he was used to seeing on her.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” the blond said, picking up the pencing in a futile attempt to get back to his homework.

“I don’t know,” Plagg shrugged. “What’s it to you?” His bright eyes turned towards his charge, examining the expression on his face.

Well, he  _did_  remember that Alya had fallen victim to an Akuma after a very similar situation. “I was just… wondering,” he shrugged, as noncommittally as he could. “I mean, it would be  _bad_  that she got possessed by an Akuma…”

Plagg said nothing for a second “Maybe you should patrol, you know. Stay ahead of the problem,” he suggested, an amused look crossing the little kwami’s face. He wouldn’t say anything to Adrien, but Plagg just found amusing how this just  _kept on happening._

Adrien seemed to ponder this for a second. Should he even do that? It was the middle of the afternoon by now, a good amount of time had passed already.

“Well, it is part of your duties to keep the city safe, you know,” the kwami continued, floating around Adrien to go to the drawer where the blond kept the cheese. 

Well, that did make sense. It was just  _prevention_.

And Marinette  _did_ know Chat… after that  _Evilustrator_  incident, so… that could give him a reason to talk to her. And, you know… make sure that everything was ok. Adrien pushed away from the desk, his chair rolling a couple of feet as he turned around to look outside. It was still light outside…  but the sun would begin setting soon.

“You could just get it over with, you know” Plagg offered, “We  _could_  be back in time to watch Storage wars”  

Adrien rolled his eyes. He was not watching Storage wars.  _Again_. “It would be a patrol” he said, before adding, “I would just make sure she’s okay.” he said, Should I let Ladybug know?”

“Nah” Plagg said finishing another piece of cheese in one big gulp. He had a feeling that tonight was going to be a long night. “I mean, we  _could_ , but only if we find something wrong… no need to worry her with this if this is  _just_  a precaution, right?”

The blond nodded. He could do this, he would sate both his curiosity and worry in one move.  “Let’s go then” he said, completely missing the  _eye roll_ from Plagg before the transformation began.

* * *

Chat was transformed and running freely across the Parisian roofs. He had patrolled long enough that the sun was finally almost gone; the streetlights being the main source of light in the sky.

To tell the truth, there was  _no_  real reason for him to check on the baker’s daughter, considering that there was  _no_ sign of an akuma anywhere in the city. Hell, there hadn’t even been a mugging to stop. Yet he still had found himself near the patisserie,landing gracefully on one of the roofs near her rooftop balcony.

So yes. He could just go home, but then… he saw her.

Marinette was outside, on the balcony, her phone glued to her ear as she talked to someone… Possibly Alya, he figured. Her other hand clung to a quilt that was clearly made from small scraps of fabric, possibly from remains of whatever bits and pieces were left after she made something. She had slung it over her shoulders, clearly to shield herself from the cold that began to take over the Parisian night. The quilt was evidently far too big for her size too… it dragged across the floor as she walked around the small rooftop.

Eventually she stopped, resting her back against the railing, looking away from where he was hiding, and he was able to listen to what she was saying. 

“Well… they’re not mad, but they’re not  _happy_  either” she spoke, pulling the quilt closer to her body. “They understand what happened, but they’re not going to pat me on the back for getting suspended…. Yeah. That’s about it”

Chat took a running start and hopped to another rooftop, trying to close the distance as  _quietly_  as he was able. He could see that she heard something, judging by the way her head perked up, but she quickly fell right back into the conversation.

“Nah, don’t worry about that. I’m on cashier and errand duty this week, so I don’t think I’ll have that much free time either” The girl walked back to the lounge chair she’d dragged to the roof, sitting down and pulling the quilt over her legs, successfully cocooning herself inside it. “Yeah, that’s it. I’m not grounded, but it’s not like I get the week off either… Yeah, I’ll totally let you know if I have to go somewhere…mhmmm…. yeah, totally makes sense.” the girl hummed, nodding her head along with the conversation, though it clearly made no sense to do so. “Yeah. I’ll text tomorrow. Snapchat me or something if you get bored… aham… yeah… You too, Bye” Finally Marinette tapped the phone and placed it on a make shift table, still safely kept inside her cocoon.

Now that he wasn’t interrupting a phone call, he took the leap and landed on the railing, “Hey there, Princess”

He was greeted by an undignified  _squawk_ , having caught Marinette  _completely_  off guard.

He was stared at by blue eyes, which relaxed slightly once she saw who he was. “Chat Noir?” she asked, as she tried to catch her breath, slightly embarrassed at the sound she’d made “You  _startled_  me”

Her blue eyes observed him, examining his current post, perched atop of the railing on her balcony. “Get down from there, you could fall” God knew she’d seen him misstep  _several_  times during their partnership; so the prospect of having Chat tumble down from her rooftop onto the street outside of the patisserie was certainly notthe way she wanted to finish this particular day.

“Oh Princess, you don’t need to worry about me” he said, but hopped off the railing none the less. His green eyes examined her face, her  _very expressive face_ , and which at the moment was regarding him with something he would later decide was  _cautious reservation._

“What are you doing here?” she asked him, watching him as he made himself comfortable, dragging a wooden box to sit on top of.

“Well, you see” Chat began, “I was simply making my rounds” This much was true. Kind of. “And I just saw up here… and I thought, hey! I haven’t checked on my  _other_  partner in battling crime in a while, you know?” he said, “So here I am, Princess”

Marinette… was not completely sold on the whole ‘ _Princess’_  thing, but there was no reason to be short with him just yet. “I didn’t think you’d remember” She would usually try and be more… silly around him, play along and all that… but today was a very difficult day and she didn’t have  _that_ much energy left.

“Of course I would, Princess” he winked at her “I’d never forget a  _pur-ty_ face”

There we go. That silly  _cat._ Her right eyebrow rose high before she could even think about it.  _Puns. “_ It  _was_  a long time ago” she pointed out. The Evilustrator incident had happened a while ago; and she hadn’t really interacted much with Chat as Marinette more than just a couple of minutes as she tried to find a place to transform.  

Chat shrugged, it didn’t take away from the truth. “I did see you were looking kind of …  _upset_ ; anything on your mind Princess?” He asked. Well, he already knew just what was going on, but Chat didn’t.So basically, he just wanted to see whether she’d talk to him about everything.

A brief look crossed her face; Marinette hadn’t thought it was  _that_ noticeable. “Nothing you can help me with, Kitty” she said, frowning a little as she pondered whether to include Chat in this particular part of her life.

“You can trust me” he offered. “I can lend you an ear… I have enough to spare” he said, his grin widening as Marinette’s eyes quickly glanced between his ears and the black kitten ones perched atop his head. 

Marinette looked at him, tilting her head as she pondered the situation.  “Alright. But you have to behave” she told him

“I’m  _always_  good Princess” he answered giving her a flirtatious smile, “Okay okay, I’ll be good” Chat said, refraining from adding another joke to the end of the sentence.

The girl looked at him, as if judging his sincerity and finally nodded. “Alright.” As long as he acted… normal, she could definitely deal with him.  Besides, she figured that it wouldn’t hurt to share just how bad her day had been so far; maybe it’d be good to vent. It wasn’t like she’d be able to do so once she patrolled tonight; should they actually go together. “I got suspended from school” she told him, lips pressed together as the memory of the day’s events came back, forcing an exasperated edge to her usually cheery voice.  “Four days starting tomorrow”

Chat did his best to look surprised,  _“M-ouwch_.You don’t seem the troublemaking type.”

“It wasn’t my fault” Marinette said, her expression turning serious for a second. “It was all just… a mess” She should have known better,  _really_. Chloé had a talent for getting her way when it came to authority figures.

The blond nodded, not quite sure of what he could say that wouldn’t betray just how much knowledge he had about this particular situation. So for now, he decided to wait on her… after all, they hadn’t interacted in a while; and he was here just to listen.

The girl paused, as if trying to find the words to explain how she found herself in that particular predicament. “I just don’t like seeing my friends bullied” she finally said. “And it’s hard to fight that when the bully has …  _power”_

Yikes. He was aware of that, and he’d seen that Chloé had definitely been at fault; but he certainly felt awkward when it came to facing the truth of Chloé’s bad behavior. She had been, after all, his first friend… and only friend for such a long time. “Then you did the right thing” Chat said, “That should be a comfort.” The  girl shrugged and Chat pressed on “You know, I thought you’d be more upset at everything you’d told me”

“I  _am_ upset _”_ Marinette said “But I know there’s no point in dwelling in everything. I know I wouldn’t have done anything differently” Would have been nice to  _not_  get suspended, but it was what it was.

A small smile appeared on Chat’s face. There was the warmth he was thinking about earlier. “It was a nice to do though”

“I guess” Marinette shrugged and the two fell quiet. Chat, not really being able to deal with much quietness, he had enough of that in his house,  _thankyouverymuch_ , broke the silence.

“What did you parents say?” he asked; sometimes he was curious about other families. He knew how his father’s reaction would be, should he  _ever_ get suspended. And he figured that it was part of the reason he’d rather keep his head down during school hours. Gabriel Agreste would  _not_  give him the leniency that Marinette’s parents seemed to have given her. 

Hell, chances would be he’d be on his way to a _very expensive and very private_  boarding school somewhere in the world.

She shifted underneath the quilt, sitting cross-legged as well, “They’re not proud.But they understood. I amgoing to have to work with my dad tomorrow though.” She wrinkled her nose; she was going to be a zombie tomorrow. She could only hope there were no akumas tonight, or anything that required her attention, because  _sleep was going to be an issue this week._ “I don’t mind baking, I just don’t like getting up at 5 am to get everything done”

Now this got Chat’s attention. He’d known her father was one of the best in the city; but he hadn’t known that she knew the craft as well.”  “You bake?” he asked “What are you making?”

“I’m a baker’s daughter. I was decorating cookies before I could read”She told him, “And I can work with croissants, cookies… obviously, and Eclairs”

“Macarons?”

She smiled, her mother had told her what she considered a universal truth. _Everyone likes macarons_ , “Sometimes” She said, they were, after all, kind of difficult to make, and while she had managed to make some that looked like her dad’s, she knew that she was notgoing to be able to make some without her father’s guidance. “That’s usually my dad’s thing, really. They’re pretty difficult” She turned her attention to Chat, “You’re really nosy today, you know.” she pointed out.

“I’m curious”

“You haveheard about curiosity killing the cat, right?” she asked, one eyebrow rising at him.

“And you must have heard that satisfaction brought it back” he replied, a grin lighting up his features. The look on Marinette’s face told him that he won that one… whicht to tell the truth, was something she should have expected. He had a  _vast_  knowledge of many cat-related puns and sayings. “I’d love to try out something you baked though.”

The look on her face was pure confusion “Really?”

“Well, if you’re half as talented in baking as you are designing, then it’s probably a treat, Princess”

“You  _know_  about my designs?” 

 _Crud_.  He couldn’t remember for the life of him whether she’d told him that the time they’d worked together, or that was simply Adrien speaking. This meant, it was time to  _improvise. “_ I have my sources” he said, “I have to keep an eye in Paris, and that means getting to know their citizens” He was pretty sure she didn’t believe him, and he waited for her to say something, but she simply smiled at him

“Thank you. Well, we’ll see about that. If you  _behave_ , then I might get you a treat.”

Chat looked pleasantly surprised, “Then your Knight will visit you again My Princess,” he said “to see if I’m worthy of a _meager token of your appreciation”_

“We’ll see…”

The blond stood up. He really needed to get back home and  _finish_ his homework. To tell the truth, she was most certainly not at risk of being possessed any time soon. “I do regret to say, that I must take my leave now” he said, reaching for her hand and planting a small kiss on the back of her hand, bowing his head slightly at her.

 _Silly cat_. “Good night Chat” Marinette said, only giving him a small look when he kissed her hand. By now she was almost used to Chat’s over enthusiastic behavior.

“It was a pleasure speaking to you Princess, I’ll see you  _soon_ ” he said, adding a wink for good measure “Good night” he grinned in her direction before running off into the night.

* * *

He returned the next day; and much to his surprise, Marinette had decided that he  _had_  behaved the previous night and had a small plate with eclairs, cookies and some Macarons set on the wooden box he’d sat on the previous night.

“We had some left overs by closing…” She explained, pausing once she saw Chat’s satisfied expression “Don’t look at me like  _that_!”

“Like what?” he asked, grinning at her as he reached for an éclair, his green eyes looking particularly bright as he did so.

“Like you…  _won_ or something” she said.

Chat wouldn’t say so, lest the girl decided to go back home and leave him alone in her rooftop, but he was prettysure that he  _had_  won, considering that she had met up with him today again;  _and_ brought snacks. Clearly she considered that he  _had_  behaved the night before.

“I’m not!” he said, but tried to battle the smile that was trying to make its way on his face “this is really good” he pointed out, taking the time to chew before adding. “How was your day?”

Marinette looked at him, and Chat wasn’t quite able to decipher the meaning of that particular expression on her face, but it didn’t matter, as she answered nonetheless.  “It was ok. I did miss going to school, actually… It gets a little boring during the morning” She turned to him “And you? No superhero business tonight?”

“ _Everything_  I do is superhero business”

Marinette rolled her eyes, so cheesy. “I seriously don’t think that  _this_ ” she waved around them “ _counts_.”

“I amchecking on the wellbeing of the citizens of Paris, Princess” he answered, winking at her before adding, “That  _would_  count”

She would have thrown a Macaron at his face, but Marinette wasn’t sure they were on that level as friends yet. Which brought out a point, were they on  _any_  level as friends? That was a question for later, really. “Chat…” she rolled her eyes “I thought my wellbeing was ensured  _yesterday_ ” she said, “Today is totally about  _these_ ” she waved a purple macaron at him.

“Maybe.” He said, shrugging a little before adding “What makes you think that there wasn’t any crime stopping tonight?”

Well, that  _could_  have happened, Marinette mused, but Chat usually called on her to keep her updated or to see if she was joining him, should something important arise. And he rarely missed the opportunity to send her some pictures on their miraculous devices. But she couldn’t just say that.So instead, she used her other excuse.“My best friend runs the ladyblog, you know” Marinette pointed out. “I  _know_  things”

“Then you  _are_  following what I do, Princess” he said, taking a bite out of the éclair, satisfied green a cheeky expression on his face “I knew you cared.”

Marinette blinked, she had walked straight into that one “Chaat!” she exclaimed, pondering whether she should have brought a water gun to keep him in line.  “That’s not what I meant” 

“It’s not like I can blame you, really” he flexed an arm, “I  _am_  very interesting”

This time she did throw the macaron at him. He caught it easily, laughing at the expression on her face “Thank you Princess” he flashed a boyish grin and bit the macaron with delight, swallowing before continuing “It was a pretty quiet night” he said  “so I thought I’d check to see if someone decided I was well behaved last night” he grinned “Turns out I did behave!”

“Barely”

He ignored that and continued “And besides, I like going out… patrolling the city”

“With Ladybug?”

“Not today” he said, he had missed his companion today; but they didn’t _always_ patrol together. Sometimes they met up, sometimes they ran into each other as they watched over the city. ”It’s better that way, but I like going on my own as well. I try to go every night. Or whenever I hear about something happening”

This… she didn’t know. She figured that he did his own patrolling, but not every day.  “Really?” she asked him “every night?”

A wistful smile appeared on his face, and Marinette found herself looking at the expression on his face. It wasn’t one that she had seen on his face very often.  _Flirty?_  Too many times to count; overtly confident, goofy and that stupid grin he did when he said a particularly stupid pun… yes. She was familiar with  _all_  of those. But this look on his face made her curious. It spoke of stories she had yet to know about her partner, “Do you enjoy it?” she finally asked “patrolling and all that?”

Chat nodded, unaware of the steady gaze focused on him right now. “It’s freeing” he said, “It’s like flying”

She could relate to that. Marinette could remember the first times, as she flew across the city, swinging and just viewing the city that watched her grow from a whole different angle. It was  _amazing_. She simply nodded along, giving him the time to keep going if he wanted.

“And you know, I get to do something for the city” He’d stopped crime. It had almost become second nature to him now, but it would never stop being amazing to realize that he worked and helped people. Chat Noir, despite his bad luck, had  _power_  to do good, both to the city and to his life. Chat was  _freedom_.  It was the reason he was here, sitting with this particular girl, instead of locked up in his room, waiting for bedtime before his routine started over once again.

“You do” she agreed, a small smile appearing on her face. She liked this Chat Noir. Sure, he was still silly and goofy, but  _toned_  down,  _sort of._  She wondered if she would ever get to see him like this when she wore her mask…she wanted to.

A small blush tinged his cheeks, almost imperceptible under the dim lights that she had hung up in her balcony. He just now realized that she’d been looking at him, and felt a little bit silly at lowering his guard so easily. But then again, Marinette was  _warmth_.He knew that already. He really shouldn’t have felt surprised at how easy it was to relax around her. It made it easy to think, that perhaps in another world, another time… No, this wasn’t the moment to think about that. He shifted on his seat and smirked at her “I’m glad you approve Princess” he said, winking.

And just like that, the moment was gone. But Marinette decided that tonight was not the moment to push further. At least tonight she’d seen something different, and perhaps this stray that found its way to her roof wasn’t so bad after all.

* * *

He found himself coming back the following night. Even if it was a little bit too late to go visit a civilian, he found himself standing on a lonely and very empty rooftop. He had patrolled with Ladybug already, and while the company of his favorite masked partner was a highlight of his night; their conversation never really flowed all that much. He figured it was hard to find the time for heartfelt conversations while running across some roofs and stopping bad things from happening.

And today hadn’t been a good one, he… kind of wanted to talk about it. As _much_  as he could, considering everything. 

But ladybug had already gone home; and Chat had done the same, but somehow, he’d paused just outside his house. He just couldn’t help but wonder if Marinette  _had_  waited for him, and whether she  _had_ saved some treats for him. And that was how he found himself turning back, heading towards the familiar rooftop.

It was empty, and he shifted uncomfortably as he looked around, pondering just how bad of an idea this was.

He heard the trapdoor open before he actually saw where it  _was._ A messy haired Marinette peeked from inside the house, turning curious blue eyes at him. “Chat?” she said, half her body outside.

“Did I wake you, Princess?”

She shook her head before heading back inside, whispering “hold on a second” as she disappeared, although she left the trapdoor opened. From his spot, Chat could hear some shuffling and moving around before Marinette finally climbed back outside again. She was wearing a hooded pink sweatshirt and mint green sleep shorts that ended mid-thigh; and her feet were covered with what just could be the most ridiculous pair of black fuzzy paw slippers. It was absolutely endearing.

“I didn’t think I’d see you tonight” she said, pulling a small plastic container from the pouch of her hooded sweatshirt. 

“Did you miss me?” he said, beaming at her as she took a seat on her chair, and he did the same on the wooden box he’d been using as a chair these past few nights.

“You’re losing you macaron privileges, you know” she said, waving the container at him for a second.

“Sorry” he said, looking absolutely unapologetic, and grinned again when the girl popped the lid from the container, where he could see several different colored macarons. He picked a blue one, “Aw, Princess! You  _did_ miss me!”

“Chat…” she warned, though her eyes betrayed no annoyance.

“I’ll behave” he said, biting into the treat, “ooh. Blueberry” he said, once he swallowed. “Are all of these different flavors?” he asked.

She nodded “Blueberry, lemon, coconut, strawberry… either cinnamon or hazelnut, I can’t really tell the color in this lighting” she said, as she pointed at the different varieties inside the box.

“Did you make any of these?” he asked, taking the container from her hands as he looked at the treats.

She picked up a white macaroon “Coconut ones” She said, “It’s all lopsided, can you tell?” She pointed at the mistakes as she turned it around in front of them “And it’s not smooth enough, see? Hey!” she complained, when a gloved hand stole the treat from her hands. “

“Still good though”

She shook her head, though an amused look crossed her face, “You’re impossible”

“Im-paw-sible you say?” he grinned as he picked another one “Oh. _Cinnamon”_

She chuckled, despite of herself. “What brings you to my roof, Chat?”

“Can’t a knight check on his princess?”

Marinette decided not to comment on the ‘ _My_ ’ Part, since she wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with the fuzzy feeling. “It’s midnight” she pointed out, and while she could easily nap once the morning rush was done, she was still curious what had brought Chat Noir to her roof even after patrolling with her as Ladybug. “Something happened during patrol?” she asked, “I know my dad’s work is good, but I wouldn’t think it’s  _this_  good”  

“It was a quiet night” he said, “And they  _are_  very good.”

Marinette waited for him to continue “So…Hungry after superhero duties then?” she asked.

He wasn’t completely sure why, but maybe he’d missed her? Sure, Chat had seen her  _yesterday_ , but the original plan today was to patrol and then head back home. But turns out that some part of him had gotten used to seeing her around. Even before this whole visiting thing started. Even having her in the periphery at school was somehow enough.

And right now, with Alya hanging out near them during school hours only accentuated the fact that she was gone. The amateur journalist had even made them take a couple of snapchats to send to Marinette during her work day. She’d replied with some of the kitchen and he’d realized that he wanted to see her again. But he wouldn’t say all of that to her. “Battling crime takes a lot of energy” he offered.

Her eyes told him that she didn’t quite believe him, “Well, it does seem pretty athletic” she said. “All that jumping and zooming around” she moved her hands in front of her, mimicking flying “Are you sure that’s that all?”

“Your hair looks nice like that, by the way” he deflected, suddenly feeling self-conscious about this whole thing. 

Marinette blushed a little, her hand flying to her loose hair. She had gotten ready for bed the moment she’d gotten back from patrolling, and while she had kept some macarons  _just in case_ that Chat decided to show up… she honestly hadn’t expected him to. “Uh…  _thanks_ ” she said, but you’re stalling.” She could tell something bothered him, she didn’t know if it was these late night chats conversations, but she’d come to notice that Chat Noir was very expressive as a  _whole_ , and right now, his black kitten ears were slightly droopy… there was something bothering her kitty.

“It was… a  _long_  day” he finally said, “I don’t want to go home to my civilian life just yet” The blond looked away, not really wanting to see the look on her face “My… um. My house is a little  _too empty_  and I don’t feel like going to all that silence just yet” his father had gone off to New York, working on some new contracts that were to be closed soon, and this time Nathalie had gone off with him. This meant that Adrien was all alone in the mansion, since none of the servants were allowed to interact much with him. And he knew that security would inform Gabriel should he invite friends without asking for permission.

So no, he wasn’t ready just yet to go home just yet.

“You don’t talk about this with Ladybug?” she asked, feeling a little bit guilty that her  _partner_ had to find another person to talk about stuff. Even if that person was  _herself._  Was she really  _that_ unreachable?

“The safety of Paris has to take preference before this knight’s silly problems, Princess” To tell the truth, he was usually too tongue tied around his Lady to bother her with what might just be a nuisance to her.

“They’re not silly Chat.” she said, “Well, if you don’t talk with Ladybug, I’d be glad to hear you if you want me to” she paused “I might not always get to sneak food to you, but I can listen”  

Chat stood up, feeling slightly overwhelmed at the moment.  _This_  was why people liked her. There was some  _innate_   _niceness_  in her, which was probably where the  _warmth_  he seemed to be so  _obsessed_  about came from… “I’m… glad to hear that, Princess. I’ll keep that in mind” the blond turned bright eyes towards the route he’d taken to get to the rooftop. “I might have kept you up a bit too long tonight”

“We can stay a bit longer” she said, shrugging her shoulders under her sweatshirt. “I don’t have to go to school tomorrow, remember?” She stood up from her spot, going up to him to stand by him by the railing. ”So unless _you_  have to be up early tomorrow. It’s okay”

He  _did_  have to get up early tomorrow, but it would be nothing that a cup of _overtly sugared triple espresso_  wouldn’t solve. “Okay” he simply said, leaning on her railing as he looked at their surroundings. The view is nice from here”

“Mhmm” she said, closing her eyes as the breeze moved her hair into her face. “this is why I tie my hair” she said, an easy chuckle falling from her lips.

They fell into comfortable silence, and Chat looked at her, seizing the opportunity while her eyes were closed, during  the battle to get wrangle her hair into submission. Marinette was  _very_  pretty. That was undeniable, and if they lived in a different world, if he’d met her  _first…_ Then things might just be very different from what they were now.

Marinette smiled, falling into a comfortable silence for a second. Despite how late it was, she wasn’t bothered by her late night visitor  _at all._ This gave her the confidence to ask “Chat, are we friends?”

Chat looked at Marinette, a surprised expression on his face as he turned his eyes towards her, “I’d like to think so” he said, honesty evident in his usually playful voice, “If you want that, of course”. He was actually being  _completely_ sincere about this. He had fun,during their late night talks, and it was great to have someone he could talk to about… life. Even if it wasn’t with as much detail as he’d want to.

She found that perhaps she did. “I think that might be _… nice”_

Chat smiled, he would have hugged her if he felt the courage to do so. Instead, he bumped his shoulder against her, “Good to know that…  _furriend_ ” he joked, laughing at the groan that came from the girl, feeling better than he’d felt in a long time.  

* * *

The rest of the week hadn’t been too bad, if Marinette was to tell the truth. Even if her days were kind of boring. She’d get up, help her dad with whatever it was he needed help before opening the patisserie. Then, she’d help her mom around either the house, or man the register.  Sometimes she’d go out on errands, or simply stay in (which was a good time for naps). She’d draw during her downtime, or read. Once she was released from duty; she’d get to her room and chat a little bit on her computer, catching up with Alya on whatever had happened at school during her absence. 

And at night? Well, that changed at night. She’d kept to her usual routine, going on patrol with Chat a couple of times, but without doubt, either before or after, Chat would show up on her balcony, and they’d share some more treats and talk about their day. She’d gotten to know a lot about Chat during these talks, and while Ladybug couldn’t do much about the new found knowledge, Marinette would  _listen_  to her new friend. It seemed that his home life was very lonely, and he didn’t have that many friends in the first place. And none of his existent friends knew his secret, which was something she could definitely relate to. It seemed that she had definitely taken in a stray kitten, and she’d found that she didn’t mind all that much.

But today, she had made her  _triumphant_  return to school. Alya had been delighted, after having to spend afull week without the company of her best friend. 

She’d even gotten a greeting from Adrien; and Marinette had even managed to greet him back,without sounding like a  _total_  mess… while Adrien was looking, of course. Once he left to join Nino, Marinette was free to flail in excitement at Alya.

But then, school was over, and while Marinette was hoping she’d get time to hang out with Alya, duty called. Duty in the way of picking up a parcel from the post office to bring it home. So, despite wanting to stay, she bid her goodbyes to her friends and went on her merry way.

The box was heavier than she’d expected, though her life as Ladybug had given her a good deal of upper arm strength to be able to deal with it properly, so she picked up the box and began to walk home, and while her father had offered to cover transportation costs, Marinette was glad for the chance to walk. 

Her phone buzzed when she was walking, but since her hands were full, this required a little more planning.Humming to herself, she switched the weight to one arm, before propping the box against her hip, rummaging through her purse with her right hand. Tikki, being helpful as always, pushed her phone up, and she flashed a small smile at her as she received it.  Pfft. Spam mail. The girl rolled her eyes and shoved the phone into her jacket and shifted the box around, holding the weight with both her arms again. She was about to continue her way home when she felt a soft thud behind her… almost, well. Almost like  _someone landed behind her._

“I’m beginning to think you’re stalking me, Kitty” Marinette said, not even turning around to see if it was indeed Chat who had appeared behind her.

He laughed, the sound confirming her suspicious. The blond was crouched on top of a low wall, green eyes looking down at Marinette. He dropped down, landing gracefully in front of the dark haired girl. “Oh Princess” he said, his voice smooth as he winked at her. “I would hardly consider it stalking.” he said “Friends can’t stalk.”

Marinette turned around slowly, one dark eyebrow rising at him “There has to be better ways to spend your time”

“But Princess, it’s the highlight of my day” he exclaimed, a playful look appearing on his face. “Besides, you knewit was me. I feel special.” He paused, holding his finger up as he tapped his chin thoughtfully with his other index finger “What if it  _hadn’t_  been me?”

“But it  _was_ ” she pointed out, chin raising up defiantly. “I’ve gotten used to your prowling”

“You missed me” he said, taking the box from her hands, his eyes widening at the weight of the seemingly light box. She was… stronger than he thought she would be. “What’s in this thing?” He asked.

“Chocolate” she answered “I picked up an order for my father”

“How much chocolate?” he was going with the amount of a ton. 

“Um… I don’t know. Eight pounds? Something like that” She took in the look he was giving her “Lots of pastries use chocolate” she reminded him. “And I didn’t ask for help” she said, trying to recover the parcel from his hands.

He hummed, shaking his head and effortlessly lifting the box out of her reach, much to her annoyance. “What kind of knight would let a purrincess carry all this weight on her own?”

She was  _definitely_  ignoring that pun. “Fine.” Marinette looked around, people were beginning to look “But let’s get moving, people are staring”

Chat grinned, winking at several people around them who were staring at the interaction and Marinette fought the urge to slap her palm against her forehead. “Chat!” she said, “some of us don’t like the press” she said, beginning to walk ahead… if he’d taken that box hostage, he better start walking with her, beforesomeone took a picture which would inevitable end up on the Ladyblog. Which would mean that she’d have a lot to explain to her best friend, once Alya realized she was on friendlyterms with Chat.

The blond gave her an apologetic grin and caught up with her easily. “My bad” he said, “So, how was your first day back?”

“School?” she asked, pleasantly surprised that he had remembered. “It’s good to be back. I’d missed hanging out with my friends…”  She stretched, now that she wasn’t carrying the box. “Also, pastry making is clearly a hobby. Not a career”

“Well,  _fur_  what its worth, they were very good” 

Marinette gave him a look, God help her if he seriously started with the puns. “Thanks, I guess; But anyway, what about you? Do you go to school?” the words left her lips before she could properly think about it. As Ladybug she would never ask Chat anything remotely personal, but it felt so easy to do it as Marinette.

Chat pursued his lips, as he clearly pondered what to answer. “I do… receive education” he tried, knowing fully well that he couldn’t really give her much information when it came to this. He couldn’t clue her into his civilian identity. She sat  _right behind him_ in class, for crying out loud.

Well, that was a yes. “I’m sorry, I’m being nosy” she apologized, her hand playing with the ends of her pigtail.

“Hey!” he said, “I’ll let you know if it’s something too  _purr-sonal”_  He drank in the look on the girl’s face, fully aware that despite her trying to ignore his puns… she was definitely not succeeding.

Marinette gave him one of those looks,that Chat was beginning to understand were a precise and changing mixture of amusement and frustration. He hoped that amusement was winning. “What?” he asked, looking as innocent as he could “I’m just  _kitten_  with you”

“Where do you even get all those lines” she asked.  Well, she knew that it was part of who he was, but … well, she wanted to know.

“Well,  _Purrincess_ , It’s part of my charm” he explained, adding a wink for good measure, before one dark eyebrow rose at his answer “…and google.” This admission finally earned him a wide eyed look from Marinette, amusement evident on her face and what he would treasure as the first full on laugh he’d ever won from her. And even though she was actually laughing athim, he found himself grinning back. “What?” You don’t find me  _a-mew-sing?”_

“Stop!” She said, swatting at his arm, still laughing. “You’re so corny”

“You wound me, Princess” he said, attempting to look dejected, but an easy smile played on his lips.

She laughed, and he found that the sound made him smile as well. “Well Kitty” she said, “That’s what you get for being… so…  _pawful”_

Chat turned bright green eyes at her, before he burst out laughing “Very good”

“Don’t look at me, I am  _ashamed_ ” she said, covering her face, though she was snickering underneath her fingers.

He was clearly about to say something when the screaming at the end of the street called both their attention. An Akuma. Marinette gasped, and turned her attention to where people were running from. She needed to get away from Chat so she could transform into Ladybug. She began to move away, eyeing a small street, where she could easily disappear and safely transform… hopefully without catching Chat’s attention.

Chat was already ready for battle though, his eyes glancing between Marinette and the akuma. He stretched out his baton, and his other arm wrapped around her waist swiftly, tugging her body closer to him; the parcel quickly forgotten on the ground.

“Wha…” Marinette’s eyes widened, though her arms went around his neck the moment he’d used his baton to lift them up and propelled them towards a rooftop, “What are you  _doing_ ” she hissed, her eyes widened as she felt her feet leave the ground. Stupid, stupid cat. This was so  _unnecessary_.

Chat didn’t say much, a determined look on his face as he jumped with her from the rooftop towards a small alley, picking her up with an ease that he _shouldn’t have been able to!_ The blond placed her on the ground carefully and turned towards her. “Stay here.” he told her. “I need to solve this. If anything comes in here, run  _that_  way” he pointed out the escape route and the turned away.

Marinette nodded dumbly and watched him go.  He had gotten her out of harm’s way…

“Marinette!” Tikki’s voice from inside her purse brought her back to the real world. “You need to transform now!”

Right! “Let’s go Tikki, Transform me!” She needed to get into her suit so she could help that stupid cat.

* * *

The akuma was defeated, and after cleansing the butterfly and healing the mess the akuma had made, Marinette bid her goodbyes, as Chat did. It was then when Marinette noticed what he was doing. He was heading  _towards_ the Alley… where he  _obviously_  wouldn’t find Marinette. She needed to get home, just in case he decided to check there, after. 

She ran, as fast as her legs would allow her, swinging her yo-yo forcefully as she tried to gain as much speed as she was able to. Thankfully, she made it to her roof beforeChat; and she threw the trapdoor open and dove through it, transforming back into Marinette mid dive.

 _Riiip_.

She landed on her bed with an awkward stumble, wrinkling her nose at the sound. “Oh, come on”she muttered, her fingers flying to where her shirt had caught on a nail on the ladder that lead outside.  Her fingers flew to the rip, it was… large to be really,  _really_  noticeable.  _Damn it._

Marinette groaned; in her haste to get back home and back into Marinette’s life, she’d not only managed to make tear up one of her favorite shirts, but she’d also managed to scratch her side. Marinette exhaled loudly, lifting the tear to examine the damage. The scratch was barely above a pink line on her side, it would probably be gone on its own by morning.  But the tear… It was far too big to be able to fix with some basic sewing. This shirt was definitely  _done_. The tear was at least four inches long, starting from one of her ribs to the hem; fluttering with every move she made.

But there was no time to think or mourn damaged outfits, because a soft knock from outside was calling her attention.

“Marinette?”  

It seemed that her calculations had been right, Chat  _had_ come to see her; so she got back on the ladder, pushing the latch open as she climbed back up. There was no time to change into something else.

 “Princess! You’re alright!” he exclaimed, his eyes bright as he extended his hand to her, ready to help her up. “I went back to the alley, but you weren’t there” he said. The words _‘I was worried’_ were left unsaid, but hung in the air.

The girl took his help and gave him an awkward smile. He shouldn’t worry about her, really, but she couldn’t exactly go and tell him why.“I’m fine Chat,  _really_ ”

His eyes, gave her a once over, making sure she was intact, when he saw the tear. Without thinking his hand shot out to grasp at her waist, tugging at it and leaning forward to examine the pale sliver of skin that was the teared outfit exposed.  “Did you get hurt?” he asked, concerned green eyes looking for any sign that would confirm his suspicions. He could see a faint pink line, but it was barely more of a scratch. His thumb traced over the faint line, moving almost on its own accord.

“What happened?” He asked, turning his green eyes towards her face.

Marinette’s eyes widened, her breath hitching at the sudden move, as her hand settled on his arm for support at the sudden tug. While she had held his hand in battle several times, the feeling of his leathery glove against her _skin_  was  _not_  something she’d ever thought she’d experience. The careful touch of his claws against the bare skin of her waist made the words she was going to say die in her throat. Hell, she couldn’t even remember what it was she was going to say in the first place.

It took Chat a couple of seconds to realize what he was doing. His hand was firmly planted on her waist, the delicate bump of her hipbone pressing against his palm, the toned muscles in her stomach shifting as the girl took a shuddery breath. Where and  _when_  had sweet and clumsy Marinette gotten _abs?_  And  _how had he missed it?_ He gulped, feeling the telling signs of a blush take over his face.

“Well then” he said, “That should heal on its own” the blond cleared his throat as he removed his hand from her waist, which then brought his eyes to the skin exposed. The tear came from the middle of her right ribcage all the way down to the hem. And now, by the grace of the evening breeze, the fabric fluttered, showing him just enough of the curve of her waist, and how her belt of her pants dug lightly into her hips.

 _Focus_.

Marinette was still kind of frozen. But her humming was enough to get him to focus on something that wasn’t skin.  “Mhmm” she said, looking particularly flustered. Unfortunately for Marinette, she had still not mastered control over just how easily her face blushed.

Chat could see the blush going from the bridge of her nose, accentuating her freckles while still going down her neck, before disappearing into the neckline of the shirt she was wearing. He could tell that his face was mirroring hers, and he just hoped that his mask hid enough of the blush he just  _knew_  he had.

“It …” she cleared her throat “…just got caught on something when I was trying to run”

This felt  _awkward_ , Marinette thought, rubbing at the exposed skin, trying to remove the tingly sensation that remained. She needed to get back to normal, or at least, as  _normal_  as they could be. “So,” she said, eager to change the subject “Is _it_ … gone?” she asked him; fully knowing the answer, but she needed to talk about something and forget that awkward little moment before.

“Oh. Yes” he said “The city is safe again Princess”

“Good”

The two fell into another awkward silence. Now it was  _him_  who wanted to break it. “Oh.” Chat said, turning away from her for a second as he retrieved something from behind. “I thought you might need this” he said, bringing the chocolate box and placing it on the chair she kept outside. “

“Oh God!” she exclaimed, her face lighting up at the sight of the forgotten parcel, “I  _completely_  forgot about it!”

“It’s a little beat up” Chat said, tapping at a smooshed up edge, “But it looks closed, so it’s probably okay”

Marinette opened the box, checking the inside. The chocolate was safely wrapped in its airtight packaging, and it looked like there was no real damage done.  A block of solid chocolate was surprisingly sturdy. Everything was fine, “Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome.” he said, winking at her “A superhero’s work never ends”

She rolled her eyes but smiled none the less. That particular chocolate was  _expensive_ , and while her dad was known for his good work; they weren’t exactly rich. Losing this amount of a very expensive ingredient would have not been good at all. “My dad will be very grateful” she said.

“And you?” he said, waggling his eyebrows comically.

Marinette rolled her eyes, but a small blush played on her face anyway. Chat looked away, a playful grin playing on his features, quite proud of himself at managing a second blush from his princess.

She tilted her head at him, examining the look on his face, and decided that turnabout was fair. While he was still looking away, she raised up on her toes, softly and quickly brushing her lips on his cheek. Or at least that was what she meantto do. Apparently her sudden proximity had spooked Chat, and his face shifted the moment her lips had neared his cheek, turning his face towards her ever so slightly, just enough so that her lips brushed the corner of his mouth. Just enough to feel accidental, but enough that she’d actually feltjust how  _soft_ his lips were.

His eyes widened, green shining even brighter in the dark of the night, staring into blue eyes, so bright. Their noses bumped as she clearly tried to put at least some distance between them. Their noses bumped slightly as she backed away, but not enough to be out of reach, and never enough not to be able to  _feel_ him close.

An eternity could have passed, or just two seconds, neither could be sure. Their breaths mingled, as he became all the more aware of everything made her Marinette. Her eyes were expectant, waiting to see just what would his next move be.

“Princess” he whispered “I think I’m going to do something stupid”

 _Stupid_ , because he was in love with someone else.  _Ladybug_. His lady was beautiful, strong and filled with grace and courage.  But Marinette, sweet, sweet Marinette, she was warmth, and if  they were in another world, she would have had him knocking on her window every day. until she would have him for good. He would have  _basked_  in her warmth and right now, he could  _imagine_  it, he could  _see it._

Because his life had been cold for  _so long.._

But Marinette didn’t move. Instead, her blue eyes looked straight into his green ones, and he could only imagine what was going on through her head.

 Chat realized, he had two alternatives, he could run away, and keep the status quo that was his life; or, Chat realized, he could just fall. Risk the explosion that he knew was there, hiding under those same blue eyes that were mesmerizing him right now.

Chat decided to  _fall_. Consequences be damned.

The distance between them was closed with far more confidence than he actually felt; his hand cupped the side of her face and his lips pressed against hers, softly, but and curious, feeling just how soft and fullthey were, and just how right they felt. To tell the truth, his only intention was a mere brush of his lips against hers, just to get a little tasteof just how her warmth  _felt_.

He was also sure she was going to rebuff him, push him away and he was half braced for what he considered imminent rejection the moment he felt her delicate fingers close around his wrist.

But she hadn’t, much to his surprise. Instead, she’d stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him back, reaching closer to him. Emboldened by her, his other hand slid towards her waist, before settling on the small of her back, and Chat cursed every god that existed and could exist, for giving him a gloved hand that prevented him from actually touching her skin.

She shuddered against him, and he realized that his claws were resting against bare skin, and he realized that he might be going far, too far even. He should stop, _he thought she would stop him!  T_ his was notwhy he’d wanted to get to know her. This was not the reasons for their talks, their visits,  _their friendship!_

But then her tongue brushed timidly over his bottom lip and he lost every ability to  _think_. The grip he had on her tightened, the claws on his gloves pressing against her skin with just the right amount of pressure against the exposed skin, and he drank in the gasp that came out of her lips, sparks shooting all through his nervous system, and just like that soft and sweet turned into firm and  _consuming_.

 _Fire_ , she was fire.

Whatever voice that pled for Chat to just keep a hold of his sanity was exiled to the dark and hidden corners of his mind the moment he felt her tug his face down,closer to her, her fingers disappearing into the ends of his blond hair. He was just so happy to oblige, to give her the closeness that he desired as well. His hand slid from the side of her face, to her neck, the movements trailing goosebumps on her skin as he deepened the kiss, pressing her body flush against his.

He could have kissed her for  _hours_ , if he had been able, but black cats don’t have the best of luck, even if they’re blessed with  _shining moments_  like this every now and then.

It was her who heard the beeping, and broke away, her blue eyes wide open and her lips looking so  _deliciously_   _kissed_  that Chat had half a mind to simply pull her back for more.

“Your…” she said, her voice sounding  _huskier_  than he knew it was, and he felt a surge of pride at it.  _He’d_ done that. “Ring”

 _Right_. Chat pulled his hand from her face and glanced at the tiny paw on it, watching as it began to blink quickly and repeatedly, in time with the unfortunate beeping. He had to go. And he had to go now, before Marinette came to find out just who she was kissing. He couldn’t risk seeing the deceived or disappointed look on her face if it came to that. He wasn’t sure he could stand it.

His other hand slid from his position on her waist and he didn’t miss the way her breath hitched in her throat as his claws dragged lazily over the skin, relishing in the last contact he would have before fully letting her go. “I’m afraid I must go Princess” he said, his words a gravely whisper in the night.

Her only reply was to nod, licking her lips nervously, immediately dragging his gaze towards them again. His movement was not unnoticed, judging by the small blush that tinged her cheeks. He would have mused something more about it, made a joke at the expense of her flustered expression… but he didn’t have the strength to do it right now and leave; so he simply reached for her hand and brushed his lips against her knuckles “Goodnight” he said, regretfully letting her hand fall down, before jumping off to another roof and out of sight, only pausing when he was sure Marinette couldn’t see him to catch his own breath.


	2. Roman Candles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Marinette has legs, Adrien has a terrible day and Plagg is an asshole.   
> Ft Ladybug questioning her life choices.

The following day was difficult. For both of them.

Or at least that was what Adrien hoped. Marinette seemed distracted, or perhaps it was his own brain reading far too much into her behavior, from what he could gather as he looked at the blue eyed girl.

What the hell had been going through his head last night?

He had sortof come to terms with the fact that Marinette was in fact a very pretty girl. Objectively speaking, of course. But Adrien had never been away from beautiful girls. He modeled,for crying out loud. His work put him near some of the most beautiful women in the world. There was no reason to feel  _this_ nervous around her.

Then again, he hadn’t shared much with many models. And he certainly hadn’t kissed any of them. After all, Gabriel Agreste’s son couldn’t really participate in those kind of shenanigans. He was his father’s son, and as it was drilled into his brain, his behavior reflected on his father’s name.

This still didn’t bring any light on just what the hell had happened on that roof. To tell the truth, hadn’t his ring beeped, he would have kept going and the thought was scary. There were far too many reasons why that whole thing shouldn’t have happened, he had wanted to befriendher, and he had!He was able to relax so much around her, they talked… as much as they could, given the circumstances, and then, he’d gone and ruined everything by kissing her.

Nevertheless, this would not happen again. Adrien was smart, he knew he could deal with impulse control, he was better than that. 

But the minute he remembered how she sighed and melted against him… every little trace of concentration was  _gone._

But now he needed to get to his next class, and hopefully stop thinking about this for now.

But as luck would have it, it was time for Gym class, and so, the class headed over to the lockers, changing into outfits more appropriate for exercise. As for boys, it rarely proved to be much of a thing; their work out clothing rarely varied much, mostly sweatpants in various colors, shorts for some and shirts.

The girls, however, were a flood of different colors, cuts and shapes. Most of them settling into some sort of shorts or knee length tights. Marinette, much to his dismay, had decided to work out in simple purple shorts and a matching sweatshirt.

Adrien knew he shouldn’t look, or he would risk sinking  _again_  into the dream hole had was already trying  _so_ hard to escape. But of course, that meant he looked at her almost instantly.

Like he’d kept reminding himself, Marinette wasvery pretty; but that didn’t mean that it was end of the world pretty… She was wearing shorts and an oversized sweatshirt. It was… simple, for crying out loud, the shorts weren’t even that… short,and the sweatshirt wasn’t even form fitting. It was pretty similar to what she’d wore one night when he visited her… minus the fluffy slippers, of course.  

But still, Adrien shifted uncomfortably, he had managed to exist somewhat normally all through the day, but there was far too much skin exposed at the moment, and the memory of rooftop kisses was far too recent in his brain.  

“Alright everyone,” The teacher said “Today we’ll play volleyball.” It had been pretty evident, and Adrien would have noticed immediately if he hadn’t been distracted before. The tall net had been set up in the middle, and there were enough students to have some fun games going on. It was ok, it wasn’t a real match, and as long as his team wasn’t completely bad at it, they’d pull through. He could handle this,as long as he focused and avoided distractions.

 Also, speaking of distractions.

Marinette turned from the group where she was talking, with Alya Alix and Milene, possibly talking about forming their own team, Alix and Mylene and Marinette all shifting around as they waited for class to officially start.  “Uh… wait a second, this is just going to get in the way…” she said, running towards the edges of the gym, her arms crossing near her hips as she reached for the hems of her sweatshirt, before pulling it over her head and placing it on one of the empty benches.

Adrien gulped, his eyes drawn immediately to the sliver of skin briefly exposed between the hem of her black t-shirt and the shorts she was wearing. It only lasted a couple of seconds, as the girl quickly tugged her shirt down to cover herself properly.

But it was enough. His  _traitorous_  brain immediately flashed images from the night before, his hands  _almost tingling_  with the memory of how well her waist felt against his hand, how easy it was to slide against that little curve that lead from her waist to her hips. Wide blue eyes looking straight at him… almost  _daring_ him to move. That, coupled with the fact that he now  _knew_ just how toned her legs were… was just adding fuel to his dreams.

Oh, he had  _never_ hated his costume before last night, because if it wasn’t for the gloves, he might have actually felt the warmth on her skin, he would have traced a fingertip against her hipbone…

He coughed, shaking his head to bring himself out of his trance. Alright. He was being an  _absolute idiot_. He’d seen skimpier clothing worn at  _Fashion Week_ , there was no reason to feel hot and bothered because one girl was wearing  _shorts_. No matter how great her legs were.

Oh god help him.He could feel his face heating up again.

“I uh…forgot” he began, wincing as his voice cracked pitifully, before clearing his throat and trying again. “I have to leave my phone in my locker!” He excused himself, before disappearing back into the locker rooms. He needed to get a grip. He also needed to stop acting like a hormonal idiot and stop it with the stares, but clearly that was proving to be a bigger task than Adrien thought.

Once he saw that the color in his face was somewhat normal, he made his way back to class, where teams were already assembled.

Thankfully, he was not on her team, and not playing against her team either, because he wasn’t sure he could handle interacting with her today. Of course, that brought another issue, since he had to wait for his turn on the court; and that meant that he got to watch Marinette running around, _jumping,_ and just playfully taunting the opposite team was making him remember just exactly had caught his attention in the first place. With some added extra bonus.

This playful, relaxed Marinette, skin flushed with excitement as they played the sport, absolutely in her element, despite clearly not being one of the most skilled girls in her team, was not easily ignored. It was kind of difficult not to pay attention to her. And he wondered how it was that he hadn’t for this long… he had seriously missed out.

And then. Everything turned to pain.

It took Adrien a couple of minutes to realize the source of the stabbing pain on his stomach, and the volleyball that was rolling idly by his feet seemed the answer. He’d gotten hit right on the stomach. He turned his face up to see just where it had come from, and he got his answer immediately.

The look on Marinette’s face was pure, unadulterated horror, her blue eyes widened as her hands flew to her mouth. “I am so.. so sorry,” she stammered, her face bright red behind her hands.

“I’m okay,” he squawked, wincing as he raised a hand up, the other touching the impact site, not sure of what to do to appease the nervous looking girl. “Nothing’s broken” he offered, but Marinette did not seem placated.  

Now, why was it that he thought that had she managed to hit Chat, her reaction wouldn’t have been so… horrified? She would have probably checked on him and… and not just nervously apologize. Then again, all she’d thrown at Chat were Macarons, and after today he wasn’t sure he wanted to test that theory. She could  _throw._  And of course, if he’d been interacting with her as Chat, then he might have caught it.

Because Chat wouldn’t have been staring at her like an idiot.

He needed to get a grip. 

* * *

He’d gone out to patrol that night. After a very stressful day, in which Adrien had never been gladder that Marinette avoided him (he wouldn’t have been able to deal with that, and their sole interaction today involved a literal hit to the stomach); Chat had decided that he needed to stretch out. And so he left, running and jumping from roof to roof, ready to forget the disaster that was today’s school day.

He didn’t run into Ladybug, thankfully, even if the area he patrolled tonight was bigger than what he usually covered. He just found that he needed to move; to jump and just be active.So today, involved a lot of jumping around and climbing several roofs and buildings. For the sake of patrolling, of course.

The goal had been tiring himself as much as humanly possible so that when he got home, he would just climb in bed and sleep. It was like he was trying to make sure that he wouldn’t have the energy to dwell in thoughts he wasn’t quite ready to deal with just yet.

Of course, he didn’t count on Plagg’s narrative assistance when he’d made that plan.

“No rooftop today?” he asked, floating towards the desk as the kwami usually did.  “Hmmm”

“What?” Adrien asked, glancing towards the kwami with an wary look.

“Nothing.”

“Plagg…” Adrien warned, pulling the top of his pajama shirt over his head, he did not have the energy for this. There was a reason that Adrien hadn’t shared feelings with Plagg about this matter just yet. And that was because he just knewthe kwami was going to make fun of him. “I’m not up for it tonight.”

“I’m just saying, you’ve just gone there every night. Did something ever happen to make you notwant to go?”

“Plagg” The blond had already crawled into his bed, his eyes closed as his hand hovered over the interrupter that would finally shut off the lights from his room. He needed to sleep.And certainly not do this right now.

Or  _ever_. That would work for him too.

Plagg clearly was not getting the hint. “I don’t remember us having that discussion” the kwami tapped his chin thoughtfully, although amusement was evident in his bright green eyes. “Whatever could have had happened?”

Adrien rubbed his tired face with his hands, this was not the time for this. He had thought he was spared this particular conversation since Plagg hadn’t said anything to him the night before… but clearly the kwami was holding on for a better moment.

“Plagg you know very well what happened!”

“I do?” Plagg flew towards Adrien’s bed, the expression on his face pure innocence “Refresh my memory will you?”

The blond groaned “I kissed her.”

“Kissed  _who?”_

Adrien glared at Plagg and the kwami finally took the hint; it was late and he wasn’t going to chance a pillow aimed at him tonight. “Fine, fine” Plagg said “So. You kissed the girl, sha la la la la my oh my and all that. Why are you being so bitter about it?”

He wasn’t being  _bitter_.He was  _concerned_.There was a difference. “She’s my friend.”

“Oh, I see.” Plagg said “Well, I don’t think Nino is going to be up for this new goodbye thing you have going on now, you know” the kwami let out an exasperated sigh and neared Adrien a little, not enough to be within swatting distance (of course) and continued. “Listen to me, the human world… it’s a mess.”He said, sighing dramatically before getting serious again and adding. “You humans are so weird sometimes, with feelings and all that. So you kissed her. You clearly liked it. What’s the big deal?” 

“Because it’s not like that”That was the main issue in Adrien’s mind. Marinette was certainly wonderful, and sure, he’d entertained the hypothetical possibility, but it was hypothetical. Ladybug was still a strong presence in his mind but Marinette seemed to be edging in, strongly gaining a firm spot in his thoughts.

It was all very, very confusing.   

Plagg gave him a small look “Right.Well, if it’s not like that”he said, his tiny paws mimicking quotations marks in the air “Then there’s no need to keep fussing about it, now is there?”

Adrien would have argued back anything right now; but he couldn’t think of anything to say. He really needed to get a grip on this situation.

Plagg had a point.

Adrien  _hated_ itwhen Plagg had a point.

* * *

Adrien decided against visiting Marinette the following night again. His brain was still too muddled for him to think things through. Plagg’s little pep talk had done nothing to clear his mind. He was hoping to let enough time pass and just hope that when he did get the courage to go see her… well, the awkwardness would be gone.

Of course, this whole letting things be was kind of difficult when he had to see her every single classin school. 

This was the reason he was trying reallyhard not to eavesdrop on the conversation happening behind him right now. Class was just about to be dismissed, and since the assignments had been already given out, the students were pretty much left to their own devices for the last few minutes until the bell rang.

“Psst.” Alya’s voice made him perk up, but he didn’t turn around, assuming the words were meant for Marinette “Wake up!”

He felt Marinette take a sharp intake of breath and then shuffling, possibly straightening up in her seat. “Sorry” she whispered. “I’m just… a bit tired”

“You’re kind of falling asleep on your seat.” Alya said, and Adrien figured that Marinette gestured her answer, judging by the sound Alya made “Ooh late night?” Alya said, leaning towards Marinette “Making something new?”

Marinette let out a muffled yawn “not really,” she said, and Adrien could just feel the tiredness coming from her. “I was just up late… couldn’t really sleep.”

“Ah, yes,” Alya said, patting her friend’s hand and nodding “It happens…”

Adrien didn’t really hear the rest of the conversation, tuning it out as he pondered on what Marinette had said. Oh God, he really hoped that she hadn’t stayed up for him? Because if that was the case, then he felt even more of an asshole than he already did.

Perhaps he had been acting a little bit selfish about this whole thing. Sure, he was still very conflicted about everything, and apparently that had prevented him from thinking that maybe he wasn’t the only one who was having issues with the  _incident_.

“Dude. Wake up!” A tap on his arm awoke him from his reverie, and he turned confused eyes to Nino, who was staring at him with an odd expression on his face. “Bell rang like… A minute ago.”

“ _Right_ ,” Adrien said, gathering his bag and standing up. “Spaced out for a minute there”

“I noticed,” his friend said, and Adrien shrugged. The blond boy really had nothing to say in his defense, “You’re being  _weird_ , bro.” Nino said “And as your friend, it’s my duty to tell you”

Adrien panicked for a second, wondering if people had indeed noticed his behavior. Because if he’d gotten caught during his daydreaming and apparent gawking, then… well, he would be in a lot of trouble. “What do you mean?”

Nino gave him a sympathetic look and patted his shoulder. “Alright then.” He said, quickly looking around to check for eavesdroppers, “See. I’m no stranger to  _girl trouble,_ ” Adrien’s eyes widened but Nino interrupted him before he was able to offer a rebuttal “Ah ah ah! Let me finish.What I mean… is that I knowthat you can be a bit socially awkward sometimes,but that is no reason to spy on our friends.”  Nino waited for Adrien’s panicked reaction before continuing. “You were so obviously listening in that I have noidea how Alya didn’t notice.”

Adrien gulped and winced. He thought he’d been better at hiding. “It’s not like that,” he began, repeating what had become a personal mantra “I was just… concerned. She did seem tired, you know” The blond looked at Nino, half trying to keep the façade he had, and half trying to gauge whether the other boy believed him.

Nino clearly didn’t.  “Mhmm,” Nino said, nodding his head with an amused look on his face. “If you say so”

First Plagg and now Nino, people needed to  _stop looking at him like that_. “I’m serious,” Adrien said, feeling his cheeks heat up a little at the amused look on his friends face “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Nino sighed, his expression becoming playfully serious. “Because if Adrien Agreste, of all people, has serious girl trouble, I’m just going to quit, pack up and go home.”

* * *

Chat felt… weird. After listening to Alya and Marinette talking in class, he had decided to just bite the bullet and go to Marinette’s. If she was there, he’d talk to her and apologize about everything, and hopefully things would get back to normal. If she wasn’t… well, he just really hoped that wasn’t the case.

He landed on the low wall that gave her little balcony some privacy, but she wasn’t there. He had half a mind to just turn back and head home when he saw something on the chair. Curiosity won over his own logic and he hopped off the wall and walked over, being as quiet as he was able to. If Marinette wasn’t up here already, he didn’t want to wake her up; it was a school night, after all.

Chat looked around, his green eyes watching from any sign of activity from inside the house, but there was only silence. He figured she was probably asleep by now, so he walked towards the chair and picked up the strange item. It was a book,with a tiny post it note attached to it. There in Marinette’s girly handwriting, it read:

> Time to expand your repertoire.
> 
>  

 The book?  **The Great Book of Puns.**

The corners of Chat’s lips pulled up in an entertained smile… and he couldn’t help but laugh at the gesture, feeling a warm feeling spreading through his chest. Oh Marinette.

Maybe things would be okay, after all.

* * *

Meanwhile, Marinette, Ladybug was almost home from her nightly patrol. Sure, she had been kind of exhausted all through the day, but there were things that needed to be done. She had responsabilities that she would not avoid just because she had personal issues.

Also, she figured that the work out that patrolling offered would be a surefire way to fall asleep quickly.

She’d met up with Chat, but as usual, their conversation wasn’t very extensive. She just didn’t know  _how_ to talk to him about some things, without giving up the fact that she’d learned about them via Marinette.This mask could be such a hindrance sometimes…

So, patrol had gone smooth, as usual. Sure, there were a couple of mugging attempts, but their presence was usually enough to scare the muggers away. Overall, it was an easy night. But after they said their goodbyes, she had taken her time, pondering about this whole Chat situation. She needed to solve whatever this was. And she needed to do it soon, because it was beginning to affect her interactions with him.

It was reallyhard to look at Chat and just knowthat _he kissed her._  Well, not her,but  _Marinette_. And  _it had been good_.And of course, there was the fact that Chat had just _no idea that he’d actually kissed Ladybug,_  and that knowledge was making her feel really guilty. And curious too, she figured. Just whyhad he kissed Marinette, and on the name of everything good and pure, _just why, oh why had she kissed him back?_

It was all very baffling, and the fact that Chat had yet to make another appearance on her balcony just made her have more and more questions, and she could not deal with everything that was going through her head. 

The only problem was that she’d somehow managed to get to her home  _after_ Chat. She would thank Tikki and all her lucky stars for the fact that she saw him  _before_ he ever noticed her, because Marinette wasn’t sure she’d be able to explain just why she was lurking around Marinette’s home.  

 _Crapcrapcrap_. Ladybug dove flat on the ceiling, dragging herself in a very, very undignified manner until she found proper cover, which right now was a low chimney. Oh god, she hoped he didn’t try to talk to her tonight,because that would be the absolute worst thing that could happen right now.

She peeked from behind her hiding spot, a concerned look worrying her blue eyes as she waited for Chat to leave.  _‘Go home, go home’_ was the chant on constant repeat in her head as she looked at the scene unfold.

Still, Marinette couldn’t help but smile when she heard Chat’s laughter when he saw what the present was. It was the reaction she wanted, after all.

The book had been an impulse buy, gotten earlier in the afternoon while out with Alya. They’d stopped by a small bookstore, and her eyes had glanced at the title and she’d not been able to walk away. Sure, her friend gave her an odd look, but Marinette had simply shrugged and argued that it was cheap.

Then, before leaving for tonight, Marinette had debated on whether to leave the book out or not, or just wait to see if the stupid stray she’d gotten would dare to come back. To tell the truth, she wasn’t exactly sure just which alternative she preferred, because while she wanted him to show up and  _talk to her_ , the mere idea of seeing him made her very,  _very_ nervous.

It wasn’t just Chatnow. There was just more, she knew more about him, and it was more than she’d ever ever expected to know, and that weighted heavily on her mind. Because despite everything she might have thought and told herself, (and Tikki, once she’d gone back inside her room), she did want to kiss him that night.

Marinette just didn’t know how to face him now.

She watched, carefully hiding as Chat hesitated around the trapdoor. Oh, how she hoped that he wouldn’t knock; because Marinette would notcome outside, and there was no way to explain that. Thankfully, he seemed to decide against it and he turned to leave, zooming past the building she was on without stopping. Still, Marinette remained in position for a full ten minutes after he was gone, before finally going to her balcony, and inside her room. Just in case.

* * *

Their patrol the following night proved to be an easy one, and Chat’s was apparently in a better humor than he’d been the past few days before. Not that Chat would ever be short with Ladybug in anyway; but it was still was easy for her to see when he was upset; he would withdraw into himself.

 That was usually the only way she could see that there was something wrong; though with everything that had happened, she didn’t know how to talk to him. Last time he’d been a little withdrawn, he’d ended up on her rooftop. But that was before he’d kissed her, so she wasn’t sure that would _ever_ happen again.

But today that wasn’t an issue. Chat was  _clearly_ on a great mood, and to tell the truth, he was _on fire._

And not in a good way.

“The night is lovely tonight” Chat said, standing tall as they looked at the skyline, the Eiffel tower standing proudly in the middle. It really was, the sky was clear of any clouds, and while the city lights didn’t allow for much stargazing, it was possible to see some stars twinkling here and there.

“Yeah…” she answered, sitting cross-legged on the edge of a roof, having finally paused their patrolling, resting for a bit before heading back home, done for the night. While her voice was peaceful, her blue eyes betrayed the wariness she’d been feeling all night. She was just expecting some sort of ridiculousness from him, she just knew.

“The  _mewn_ and stars are shining  _furry_ bright.” Green eyes glanced quickly at her before continuing, “I just love looking at  _meowter_ space, don’t you?” he said, his face attempting what she supposed, was a thoughtful expression, but the amusement of his new jokes finally won out as he broke in snickers, clearly proud of himself.

She sighed loudly. This had been happening all night. “Chat…” she warned, but didn’t press on. This was all her fault.

 _That stupid book_. She should have known this was going to happen! She gave thepun obsessed cata tool to annoy her. It had barely been twenty four hours; he couldn’t have memorized the whole book! Although, the alternative was that these lines were only a fraction of what was in the book, and that particular thought was absolutely terrifying.

She  _really_ needed to think things through when it came to Chat.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, though the glint in his eye warned her that something else was coming. “I didn’t mean to  _bug_ you.”  

She decided that she was not evengoing to acknowledge that. “I hope whoever invented puns died a horrible, horrible death,” Ladybug spared a tired glance towards her partner, looking plainly defeated.

“Would have to be a _killer pun_ , my lady,” Chat grinned, looking awfully proud when she groaned. 

So yes. It was safe to say that she was questioning her  _life choices_. He had been throwing puns at her like he was earning money by doing so. And she knew that she could not complain, because she had clearly brought this upon herself. “Do you have anything that’s not a pun?”

“Well,” he said, tapping his chin with a glove clad finger “I’d tell you a chemistry joke but I don’t think I’d get a reaction…”

Ladybug opened her mouth to say something but closed it immediately. There was just no way she would she be able to talk to him about anything tonight and get a serious answer.

Chat, however, looked  _absolutely_ pleased with himself.

She rolled her eyes at him, but he was clearly in a good mood today and it was a nice thing to see. “You look cheerful today” she pointed out.

The boy smiled, a gentle look appearing on his face “It’s a lovely night”

She had seen that look before, of course, but she couldn’t remember seeing it while wearing her mask. And she most definitely didn’t appreciate the way her heart skipped a beat at the realization.

This was not the time to think about this.

Her hand picked up her yoyo, propping it open to check at the screen. “Is it really that late?” she asked, eyes widening as she took in the time.

Chat checked the screen on his baton and nodded. Yikes. “ _Pawsitive_ ,” he said, lowering the baton. “Time to go then?”

“I think so,” she said, “There seems nothing going on tonight anyway.” There hadn’t been an akuma attack in a couple of weeks; which of course meant that they had to be vigilant… but there was no point in exhausting themselves waiting for it.

He nodded. “Well then, goodnight my lady,” Chat bowed his head, doing a small playful curtsey before her “I think it’s time we got our beauty sleep then”

“Goodnight Chat,” she said, shaking her head as a small smile appeared on her face. Ladybug watched him go, waiting to see if he’d head home or head over to her balcony again. It was then that she noticed something that hadn’t quite happened before, and to tell the truth, she wasn’t exactly sure what to do with this new discovery.

He didn’t kiss her hand when he said goodbye.

* * *

 Despite Chat’s decision to get everything back to normal, Marinette and Chat had yet to talk again. With schoolwork and some early morning photoshoots, Adrien had not been able to spare a second to visit her.

Which was getting him a bit anxious, to tell the truth.  He was beginning to realize that the more time he took in taking this first step, the more awkward everything was going to be.

Today, after school was over, Adrien had finally some free time; but he had already arranged to go out with Nino. Bro time was sacred, after all. Besides, the boy had told him Alya was out with Marinette… so he figured that he might just have to try later.

Besides, it was always fun to get a breather from his strict schedule. Granted, most of the time today was spent in a futile attempt to prove to Nino that he wasn’tacting weird. Adrien had failed, terribly.

However, Adrien would never be able to express in words the gratitude he felt towards his friend. Despite him clearly noticing something off, he wasn’t pushing, other than to point out that he knew;the silent offer to talk about it unspoken but completely understood. Because Nino knew his friend, he wasn’t about to press too much. Because sure, he didn’t want to talk about it now,but it was nice to know that his friend cared.

But now Nino had to go, and after saying their goodbyes, Adrien found himself alone, walking through the streets of Paris. The blond was about to call his driver to come pick him up, when he saw them, Marinette and Alya saying their goodbyes as well.

“Sorry friend, got to go!” Alya said, her phone in her hand as usual as she gave Marinette a one armed hug, “Talk to you tonight?”

“Fiiine” Marinette said, her eyes twinkling as she returned the hug. “I’ll get online tonight. Maybe we can watch something?”

“Sure, I’ll call you!”  Alya turned around and waved at her friend, before taking off in another direction.  Adrien watched for a second, making sure that Marinette would be actually alone before a small smile lit up his face, as an impulsive and completely reckless idea formed in his head. 

Well, it was either now or never, he figured, so it was time to go chat with his princess.

Here’s the thing about being Chat Noir: Chat  _was_ Adrien. But without the hindrance that his father’s last name put on him. It was the ability to just act, and not think of ‘How did this reflect on the Agreste family name’; and the freedom was amazing. Granted, sometimes he took it a bit too far, and he acted a little bit too reckless and ended up in tricky situations.

Once transformed, he simply dropped by on the side of the bakery, near the side door that he presumed, led to the family’s home. “Good afternoon Princess” he said, bowing his head slightly, a mischievous grin on his face.

Marinette squeaked, startled at the sudden appearance of the blond “Chat!” she said, placing her hands over her heart “Don’t do that!”

“Sorry,” he said, looking at the flustered look on the girls face with a smile.

“You don’t looksorry,” she pointed out, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

If Chat was going to be honest, he had not planned anything further from greeting her.  So as long as she kepttalking to him, he figured that it was a victory. “Just wanted to say hi,” he said, “Just… see how you were doing…”

Marinette bit her lip, clearly pondering whether or not she should do this. Chat hadn’t even talked to her (as Marinette)in days! Not even after getting the book, which, by the way happened to be the worst thing she had ever bought. But she had hoped that would be a small conversation starter, or _something_. But nothing.

She had half a mind to tell him to leave, but then, she looked at him. Chat’s ears were slightly flattened, which would have been lost between his messy blond hair, and his posture was straighter than usual and the smile on his face was…  _tighter_.

He seemed…  _nervous_.And that actually made her want to talk to him after all. It was somewhat relieving to see that she wasn’t the only one who was having issues here. 

She looked around, since curiosity had clearly won out today, as it seemed to happen when Chat was involved. “Upstairs!” she told him, as she searched for her keys as quickly as she could.

“We could just…” he said, looking up, and then nodding to his baton. He could just lift them both up and they’d be at balcony within seconds. It would definitely be quicker than her going inside the house.

“No.” 

Chat’s eyes widened, and hurt flashed on his face at her curt answer, though he quickly masked it with his usual bravado.

“Chat” She began, her voice slightly softer this time “I need to go through a normal door, because I need my parents to know I got home. I can’t just appear in my room” she pointed out.

Because really, if Marinette had to explain that she was dropped in her balcony by Chat Noir, just outside her room? That would lead to a very awkward conversation about boys being in, on, around her room, and then her little trapdoor would end up sealed shut. And that was just bad for both Ladybug andMarinette.

Chat frowned for a second, but nodded. That… made sense. “I’ll see you there” he said, and was out of view in seconds. Marinette looked up at him, and sighed loudly as she opened the front door and entered the house, cheerfully greeting her family as she saw them.

Once she was able to go to her room, she closed the trapdoor that lead back into the house and headed straight to the balcony.

He was there waiting, leaning casually against the balcony railing when she emerged from the trapdoor, around five minutes after she entered the house. “Hey” she said, blue eyes regarding him warily.

“I got the book.” he said.

“Oh.” she said “Was it good?”

 A smile tugged the left corner of his lips upward, “Purr-fect” he said, though it was evident that his heart wasn’t in the silly joke. “Thank you.”

Marinette rubbed her arm nervously. “Just so that you don’t have to rely just on google” she offered, offering a small nervous smile. Marinette would later have to confess, that she hoped he would have come back, shooting stupid puns at her, which would have made her groan and tell him off; and then they’d both forget what had happened and go straight back to normal. 

“Princess…”

“Chat”

They both spoke at the same time, and immediately fell into an awkward silence, interrupted by timid chuckles and nervous laughter. The fact that they were standing in the same spot they’d kissed before didn’t help at all. She could still remember the look on his face, bright green eyes glowing in the night.

After a second, Chat spoke up again. “About that night…” he began, pausing for a second as he thought about the words he wanted to say.

“Don’t worry about it,” Marinette said, “We don’t have to talk about it.”

Well, on one side, it would have been so much better not to talk about it. Just ignore the problem, but he still felt like he should.“I know, but…”

“Chat…”

“I didn’t want to kiss you that night” he finally blurted out.

Her eyes widened for a second, before narrowing in his direction, only then did Adrien realize just what he’d say. “… Okay” she said, her arms crossing in front of her chest  _“_ Don’t worry. _that shouldn’t be a problem again”_

 _Crap_. That had most definitely come out wrong.  Chat ran his hands through his hair, sighing loudly “That’s… that’s not what I meant”

“No problem” Marinette said, taking a step back, looking around, ready to climb back down to her room and forget anything had ever happened. “I said we don’t have to talk about it.”

But they  _did_ , considering that she was evidently upset with him and he just couldn’t deal with her being angry at him. “Princess…” The sharp look he got was enough to tell him that his Princess privileges were certainly revoked. “Marinette” he said, his hand reaching to her wrist, trying to makeher look at him.

She moved out of his reach, taking a swift step back and his hand retreated to his side like it had received an electric shock. “You kissed  _me_ ,” she accused him, hurt evident in her voice, “In case you forgot. _You_ did.”Granted, her response had been quite enthusiastic, but that was beside the point. He started it. He didn’t get to decide now that the whole incident had been a nuisance to his life.

The look on her face made him realize that he needed to pick his words  _carefully_ , or else this was going to be a very short conversation. “I didn’t plan… It’s not why I came here in the first place,” he said, running a hand through his hair, messing it up even more than usual.

His black kitten ears were flattened against his head, and had Marinette not been upset at him, she might have found it endearing.

“Then why did you?” she asked, arms crossed in front of her again.

“I don’t know,” he confessed, “at first, I was just…  _checking_ on you.” he shifted his weight from one leg to the other, nervously figuring out just what to say without giving away too much. “Then… I just  _wanted_ to come here”

Marinette looked at him carefully, gauging his honesty. It was hard to get a full read on him, since the mask hid much of his face, but she found that she actually did believe him.

Chat continued, “I did want to,” he finally said, “kiss you, I mean”  _He still did._ And he hadn’t stopped thinking about that ever since. “I just didn’t want you to think that’s all I wanted.”

“Oh” she said, not sure what to do with that particular bit of information. Still, he shouldn’t have done that. “You never came back.  _For days.”_ Marinette looked at him square in the eye. She’d  _waited_. “That wasn’t ok” Sure, she’d seen him the couple of times they’d patrolled, but that didn’t count.She had barely slept the first few nights, waiting for any sign that he had arrived in her little corner and nothing.

Chat sighed, his head hanging down, obviously ashamed of how he’d handled this whole situation. The only bright spot in this whole conversation was that she hadn’t left him alone so far, so he was taking this as a win. “I know. I’m sorry”

Marinette nodded, pursuing her lips. Chat’s eyes followed her movements, as she fidgeted before him, eagerly awaiting for her to speak. When she didn’t, he decided to keep going. If he was confessing things right now, he might as well go all out. “Can I ask you something?” he said, his head turning “Is there…” he hesitated, wondering how to broach this particular subject; but he was curious. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Marinette almost felt  _whiplash_. That was a sudden change of topic. “Uh…No…” she said, warily turning towards him “Why?”

“Is there someone?” he pressed, ignoring that previous question. He needed to know this information now. Chat wanted to make the necessary connections in his head to make sense of the whirlwind of emotions he was currently feeling. 

Marinette hesitated, feeling her cheeks heat up a little. “Kind of,” Was there? Adrien was still there, ever constant presence in her mind, but with everything that had happened, he’d been sort of relegated to the back. Sure, she was still excited to see him at school, and she was still unable to do anything much more than stutter in his presence. But she’d been also thinking about Chat. And to tell the truth, after what had happened, she had felt… guilty looking at Adrien.

But she had had never lowered her guard around Adrien like with Chat. She had never really talked to Adrien like she did with Chat, and she had certainly never been like this with anyoneelse. Nerves tingling and expectant. She was hanging on every word he was going to say. In the end, she finished with a simple explanation. “It’s  _complicated”_

A small look crossed his face, and Marinette wasn’t able to figure out what it meant, “Alright” he said, his voice cautious and unexpectedly serious.

“And Ladybug?” she asked, and when he gave her an odd look, she shrugged “My friend… the ladyblog” she said, shrugging nervously “she tells me about her updates” she simply said, shrugging nervously.  She figured that Alya would be a good excuse for her to know about certain aspects of Chat’s feelings. And well, it was a way for her to finally ask Chat about something she’d wondered for a while already.  

A contemplative look crossed his face. Ladybug. The red clad masked hero was always a presence in his mind. She was radiant and graceful and so strong. There was no question in his mind why all of Paris loved her so much. She was amazing. But there was a degree of unattainability to her that Chat would never deny.

It had been on his mind a lot these past few days. Did he love her? Yes. He did. Ladybug made him the best person he could be. He had a purpose, battling evil beside her, and that was something that was irreplaceable. He would always fight beside her, and he would be her partner for as long as she’d have him. But now, standing in front of this civilian girl, there was something that he just didn’t know how to explain. Marinette was sweetness, was warmth, fire and a home, and he could see a spark in her that could ignite him, a slow spark that could ignite them both and he was tempted to try.

So,  _so tempted_

“It’s complicated” he said, echoing her words.

She nodded, looking past him to glance at their surroundings. The sun was beginning to set and it cast an orange light on everything around them. From the park adjacent to her house, she  could hear the sound of children playing, mixed up with all the sounds of the city. Everything went on as normal as ever, and she felt like everything was changing around her.

She didn’t quite understand what was going on right now, there were choices that needed to be made, probably; but she wasn’t sure she was able to do that right now. She didn’t know what was wrong and right in this case.

“I get it” she finally said, It was the truth, she really did. Everything was complicated right now, “don’t worry about it”

Chat nodded, wondering if he should take his leave now, and head home before he broke his curfew even more and actually lost the privileges to go out with friends unguarded. He just didn’t want to leave just yet. “Princess?”

“Chat?”

He didn’t answer for a second, looking at her face with a thoughtful expression. There was something that was in the back of his mind, something that had been there ever since they kissed. Ever since he noticed her.“If I said I wanted to kiss you again” he asked, his voice low and barely above a whisper. “Would you let me?”

Her eyes shot up to look at his face, and she felt her own face heat up considerably. “What?” she asked, trying to examine his expression to see how serious he was being at the moment.

He took another step forward, which made Marinette tilt her head up to be able to look at his face. “I…would you let me kiss you again?”

No. She should not let him. This was stupid and this was completely unnecessary. It would bring yet another complication to their lives. Just the one kiss was enough to throw a wrench into their budding friendship; another would just  _obliterate_ it completely.

She knew she should just say no and tell him to go away. But… she was also smart enough to know that something between them had already shifted, and she didn’t know how to explain it. There was something going on.And somehow she wondered if the answer could be found in the same way they’d gotten into this whole mess. She could feel Chat’s eyes fixed on her face, carefully watching for any sign from her. He would not move unless she gave him the sign that it was okay to do so, and that was a comforting thought. He could have had backed her into a corner and she wasn’t sure she would have stopped him, or whether she would have wanted to; but he waited.She finally nodded, biting her lower lip for a second, unable to really say anything else at this point.

The smallest hint of a smile appeared on his lips, his bright eyes focused solely on hers. Chat’s hand raised to gingerly cup her cheek, tilting her face up towards him. Her eyes fluttered closed as he finally pressed his lips to hers softly, reverently, pulling back slightly before kissing her softly again. He felt her breath hitch in her throat as she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against him again, brushing them against his softly, again and again.

This kiss was  _nothing_ like their first. There was no gripping onto each other for dear life, no tangling hands into their hair, just hands held innocently as they shared one kiss back and forward, breath held in wonder.

So why was it so intoxicating? Chat felt goosebumps on the back of his neck, feeling every nerve tingling in excitement. It made absolutely no sense. It was just a simple kiss, barely above a peck, but how could it be that it felt like more?

He finally broke away, feeling Marinette exhale a nervously against him, blue eyes opened and filled with a question that he couldn’t quite decipher. He was almost sure that his own eyes looked similar. “Thank you” he said, his voice a mere whisper against her lips, his hand tentatively leaving its place on her face, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Are you going to disappear again?” she asked, biting her lip again as she examined his face, trying to gauge if this little experiment had yielded any type of useful information for him.

He shook his head, “I have to go. But I’m not disappearing again,” He took in the look on her face and decided to explain further “I was supposed to be home twenty minutes ago.”

“Oh.”

“I’m not disappearing” he insisted, waiting for her nod before relaxing. “I will see you soon?” 

Marinette nodded, not sure of what else she could say now “Goodnight Chat.”

He pressed his lips against her cheek softly.“Goodnight Princess.”  

* * *

Tikki was inside, waiting for Marinette to come back down. She could somewhat hear what was going on the balcony, but she was not really sure what was going on; and the kwami was  _curious._

When the trapdoor opened, the kwami hid for a second, until she was sure that it was only Marinette descending.

“Marinette?” Tikki said, approaching his charge carefully “Are you okay.”

The girl in question let out a shaky breath “He…  _we_ kissed...”

_“Again?”_

Marinette nodded, her hand reaching to touch her still tingling lips. She shouldn’t be so stunned by a simple kiss. Sure, their previous kiss had been passionate… it made sense for her to be so dazed. But this? It was barely a kiss. It might not even  _count_.She removed the elastics from her hair, running her fingers through the loose locks to get rid of any tangles.

“Oh Marinette”Tikki said, flying over to the girls shoulder and nuzzling her gently. “What happened?” The girl offered her hand for her to land and the kwami followed easily. How she hated to see her charge so confused.

“I’m not sure Tikki, I think I’m just overwhelmed” Marinette plopped down on her back, her head hitting the many pillows on top of her bed. “I don’t know what I’m doing” she confessed.

Tikki floated again, landing besides her hair and pet her hair gently. “It’s okay to not know” she said “What do you want?”

Marinette sighed “I’m not sure I know that either" 

 


	3. Fire meet gasoline.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which these two kids start and stop thinking. At the same time.

 Adrien snuck into his house as quietly as humanly possible. He knew he was late, almost forty minutes after curfew; so he decided to drop into his room directly, and if anyone asked… he was there all along.

He released his transformation and began his nightly routine, humming softly to himself.

Plagg, however, was not here for this. The kwami’s bright green eyes followed Adrien as the connected his phone, before heading into the bathroom to wash his face. “ _Really_?” Plagg said, tiny arms waving at Adrien, who was  _shockingly_ not freaking out.

“What?”

Plagg shook his head.  _Humans._ “I just want to point out that for someone so adamant on how  _it wasn’t like that”_ Plagg said “You kissed the girl.  _Again_.”

“I know.”

Plagg clicked his tongue; he’d hoped for a little  _bit_  more information. Plagg was used to Adrien’s love-struck rambling, this whole  _normalcy_ thing he seemed to be trying out now was a bit…  _unnerving_. “Any insight on that?”

Adrien sat back on his bed, pursuing his lips, deep in thought. He couldn’t really explain it, but he just needed to  _know._ Their first kiss had been easy to blame on recklessness and bad impulse control. He’d been worried, and she’d looked absolutely beautiful. It was easy to blame everything that followed on just how  _good_ the kiss was. But that didn’t account for him still wanting to kiss her  _now._

Well, it was very, very complicated. She liked someone else, and Adrien didn’t know how that particular situation, and he wasn’t brave enough to ask either. But she had kissed him…  _twice_ already. And he would kiss her again, if she let him… So clearly there was  _something_ here. But then again, there was that whole thing with Ladybug, and while the thought of  _trying_ with Marinette crossed his mind, it meant giving up a whole list of things that he wasn’t sure he could just yet.   

“What happened to the previous Chat Noirs?” he asked,

Plagg sighed, uncharacteristically serious. Despite his usual character, he did care for his charges; and not all of them had ended up with  _happy endings,_ it was hard to think about sometimes. “What do you mean?”

“How do they  _work?”_

“Always partners.” Plagg said, cautiously finding the words to explain, not wanting to give out more than he really should.

“And  _more?”_

“ _Sometimes_. Sometimes they get together, sometimes they found other people, and remained friends,” Sometimes they were torn apart by tragic circumstances, but that wasn’t something that Plagg wanted to delve into; the thought was still far too painful to think about. Even after all this years, the lost Chat Noirs were a sore memory in his mind, as he knew that the lost Ladybugs were for Tikki, And there had been  _so, so many._

Adrien nodded, but said nothing; so Plagg gave the blond an odd look. Before continuing “What does all this have to do with your classmate?”

Nothing.  _Everything_.

Adrien shrugged, still pondering about that kiss, wondering if she was as effected by it as he was right now. Somehow, the idea of her being back inside her room, thinking about the same things he was right now… made him  _smile._

“Look kid, I can’t tell you what to do, it’s not up to me.” Plagg said, “but there’s something all up in your brain. You like this girl then?”

“Yes, no…  _I don’t know_ ” That was not entirely true. He did know, deep in his heart he was sure he did, but voicing it out  _loud_  was just something that he wasn’t ready for. Saying it out loud made things  _real,_  and Adrien wasn’t quite ready for that just yet. Big bright blue eyes haunted him, and he wasn’t quite sure who they belonged to anymore.

The thing was, Ladybug was just  _everything_ , this  _goddess that_  he had always aspired to  _deserve._ He knew that she would push him to reach his maximum potential; which he was, and didn’t think he’d ever be able to thank her. But there was this  _wall._ This  _unsurmountable_  wall that he didn’t know if he’d ever cross. He admired her _so much_ and he was sure that he always would; but

Marinette. It was different with her; he felt  _accepted_  with her; but he still wanted to be the best he could be, but  _for her._ To earn the smile on her face and the _gift_ of her embrace. He could  _see_ long afternoons, lounging on her rooftop, basking in the light of the sun; and he could see it both as Chat  _and_ Adrien; which was something he’d never imagined before.  He wanted to _kiss her_  until her voice was hoarse, and they both forgot their own names.

But was he ready to  _give up_  Ladybug? Give up this whole thing that he had wanted for years already. That was the main question, because attempting to get closer to Marinette, to  _truly_  get closer to her, would mean surrendering everything to her, his heart, his secrets,  _all of them._

“There’s no wrong answer kid. Whatever you want is the right thing for you.” Plagg finally offered “It might work out, it might not. Only one way to see.”

Adrien looked at the kwami, a kind look on his face, before he reached to turn out the light, submerging the room in darkness. “You are really good at talking sometimes, you know that?” Adrien said, finally tucked into his bed, closing his eyes to prepare for slumber, as he felt Plagg’s tiny steps as the kwami made himself comfortable on his usual spot on the bed.  

Plagg made a face, sticking out his tongue. “I know. Don’t get used to it.”

* * *

The following day was business as usual, and despite the fact that her night had been pretty restless; Marinette was in a good mood at school.  To counteract the lack of sleep, she arrived at school holding a disposable paper cup, sipping the warm concoction as she skipped to greet Alya. “Hey!”  

Alya’s eyebrow raised, “Someone’s happy today” the girl mentioned, a playful twinkle in her brown eyes as the girl approached her “You’re even in _time.”_ She pointed out. “What gives?”

Marinette blushed, one shoulder lifting up in a shrug as she evidently battled the cautious smile that took over her face, “I woke up in a good mood” she simply explained, deciding to hide her smile by sipping on some coffee.

“I can  _see that,”_ Alya said, hooking her arm with Marinette’s as the friends walked towards their classroom. “Well, it’s a good change from the  _Zombie_ thing you had going on these past few days.”

“I did not look like a zombie!” Marinette complained, as she settled down on her desk, “I was just… a little  _tired.”_ Understatement of the century, but she wasn’t about to delve further on that.

“You did!” Alya said, a mischievous glint on her eyes “Right guys?”

“Very. Very Zombie-ish,” Nino nodded thoughtfully as he voiced his opinion; amusement evident in his eyes as Adrien turned around to share his input in the conversation. Marinette’s crush was evident to anyone  _but_ Adrien, although Nino was beginning to wonder if the blond’s latest bout of _Marinette-watching_  was helping him catch the clues.

Adrien turned around to face her, and he had to personally fight the smile that threatened to sneak on his face; the flustered look on Marinette’s face reminding him of just how she’d look at him last night before he had to leave her.

“I… uh,” Marinette felt her face heat up, and she was completely unable to hold Adrien’s gaze, looking down at her desk; oh God, she couldn’t deal with this attention right now; not after she’d been daydreaming about rooftop kisses and feline grins.

“Stop teasing her guys” Adrien finally interrupted, a gentle smile on his face, as he tried to catch her eyes.

She finally glanced up, and she somehow managed to hold his gaze long enough to smile and give out a shy “Thank you,” before the teacher arrived and made them all turn their attention to the front.

“Very good!”Alya mouthed towards Marinette, offering her best friend a thumbs up. That was by far the best interaction she’d had in a long time. Marinette blushed even more, shrugging her shoulders at Alya as she shook her head. “So proud” Alya said, patting her friend’s arm playfully.

Marinette shook his head, narrowing her eyes at Alya, She did  _not_  need to add an  _Adrien_ interaction to her already muddled emotions.

* * *

Marinette felt him arrive before he actually called out to her, Chat’s voice softly speaking her name, just barely enough for her to hear. She had been doodling in her sketchbook, curled up on top of her bed when she heard him.

She would also deny till the  _end of her days_  that she’d been waiting to see if he’d show up.

The thing was, Marinette just wanted to  _know. To know_ why he kept on coming to her rooftop, and good God, she wanted to know  _why she let him_. There’s just so much going on in her head and Marinette just didn’t know how to deal.

On one hand, she absolutely loved the way they could  _talk_ , so easily and for so long. Frankly, if it wasn’t for the fact that they’d had to go get some sleep, or that his ring began beeping… they might have stayed up for sunrise. She had considered him a partner for years already. But now, they were…actually  _friends_.

And maybe crossing the line towards  _a little more_.

And that was both scary and absolutely exhilarating. Scary because she could still not shake that awful weight from her shoulders, that unfathomable guilt of hiding so much from him. What would he say, if he knew that he had in fact kissed his  _lady?_ That the girl he kept on visiting was the same girl who kept on rejecting him? Marinette knew that she  _needed_ to decide whether she’d pursue this; but she had been in love with Adrien for as long as she’d known him; and thinking about someone else felt so  _foreign._ Even if that someone else was, in fact, a very important part of her life too.

That that still left her with the problematic way her heart skipped a beat as she heard him walk around her little rooftop balcony. Marinette looked towards the entrance to her room; making sure that the door that lead down into the house was  _properly closed_ , before turning around and making her way outside. She was glad he hadn’t disappeared on her again, she really was.  

And it had nothing to do with the fact that she may have wanted to kiss him again.

Not that she’d  _ever_ tell him that; of course. Despite knowing a new side of him, she also  _knew_  Chat, and Marinette was completely sure that she did knew him well enough to guess with  _accuracy_  what his reaction would be.

“Chat?” Marinette closed the trapdoor behind her, softly lowering it until it shut softy. The night was chillier than usual, and for a second she regretted not putting on something warmer, but decided against heading back inside.

Wow.  Chat looked  _far_  too comfortable lounging on her balcony chair, fingers laced behind his head, eyes closed as he bathed in the moonlight. His long legs were stretched out, the smallest hints of a smile playing on his lips. It was like he  _knew_ he looked good. And  _no one_ should not look this good while simply relaxing. It was simply  _not fair._

“You look comfortable.” she pointed out, arching a dark eyebrow, amusement evident in her blue eyes.

“I  _am._ ” he said, stretching lazily before standing up swiftly, offering the seat to Marinette, and sitting down on what had become his usual spot. “I told you I wasn’t disappearing again!”

The corners of her lips tugged upwards in a smile.  “It was a good question, you know” she stated, a teasing tone permeating her voice.

“You  _wound_  me, Princess” he remarked, his hand covering his heart, but his face was all smiles. “But, I guess I deserve it.” he added as an afterthought.

Her expression softened, “Chat…I was  _kidding_.” She said, reaching for his gloved hand and squeezing it lightly. She had been worried that he would, but she was not one to hold grudges. Besides, he was  _here now._  “So, is the city is safe for the night?”

“Very much so,” he said, before It was good” he said, “There’s this spot on top of the Eiffel tower, above the tourist floors that you can really see _everything around._ You’d love the view” he paused, “Maybe one day I’ll be able to get you up there,” he finished, a smile appearing on his handsome face.

She swatted at his arm lightly, “I almost  _died_  when you lifted me last time!” she said, her eyes narrowing at him as she remembered. It was when the akuma attacked… the day before their first kiss.  She would gladly go with him, just not with him  _taking her._ Doing those sorts of flips without having her yo yo as backup was just not going to happen ever again. And that was yet  _another_  reason for Marinette to come clean.

“I wouldn’t let you  _fall!”_ he remarked, one clawed finger tapping her chin playfully. She wrinkled her nose at him, swatting his hand away as she laughed. “Anyway,” he said, “What were you up to, before this stray came to your home?”  

“Well,” Marinette smiled, “I  _was_  working on some designs I want to try out soon. Christmas is a few months away so I want to get my presents in order before then.” She was not going to do the sewing marathon again; she had found herself. It had been terrible.

“Show me?”Chat asked, curiosity lining up his eyes. He’d only seen the little handcrafted presents everyone else around them had gotten. Well, and the hat, but since that had feathers, he’d never been able to really admire it… without going into a nonstop sneezing fit.

“Are you sure?” she asked “It’s probably not that interesting.”

Chat nudged at her with his foot, “I’m sure they are interesting.” he said, enjoying the nervous look on her face. “ _You_ are.”

She bit her lower lip, but yielded, “Alright then,” she said, smiling and standing up to head back inside the house again. “I’ll be back in a second.” Chat watched her disappear for little over than two minutes, before emerging from the trapdoor, holding a medium sized pink sketchpad on one of her hands. It was pink and worn, clearly since she carried it around wherever she went.  It was lined with small brightly colored flags, scribbled with words Chat couldn’t make out from his current spot, and would probably not be able to read anyway. Marinette had also taken the chance to slip something warmer on; choosing an oversized pink sweater that reached below her hips, sleeves covering her hands.  

“Cold?” he asked.

“A little…” she said, sitting down beside him, the sketchpad resting on her legs.

“I could have kept you warm, you know.” He said, adding a wink for good measure.

 _“Behave…”_  she said, swatting at his arm. “Or I’m going back in!” she made a playful attempt at standing up, but Chat reached for her hand, tugging her back down into her seat.  

“Sorry, sorry!” he said, not letting go of her hand until he was sure she was staying. “I’m sorry. Show me!”  

Her blue eyes narrowed slightly, but even he could see it that it was all for show. “Alright, here we go,” she said, sitting down, opening the sketchpad on one of the marked pages. It was a winter jacket, which frankly looked very good. The page was titled  _Alya_ , which obviously gave up who the present was for. “This is one of them…” she pointed “But I’m not fully sure if I want to go with a zipper or buttons, see?” she pointed at the design, the page filled with different angles and notes scribbled along the sides, question marks and abbreviations he wasn’t sure he would ever understand.

“It looks really good.”

“Thank you!” she beamed up at him and he found himself smiling right back. Her fingers traced over the paper, “With winter coming up,” she began “I just thought that Alya would love a new jacket…” She continued, pointing at the arrows, to explain what the ideas for them were “And this” she circled a spot on one of the pockets “She  _always, always,_ carries her phone around, so this pocket is here so that she can just keep it handy.”

There was an ease to their interaction, and Chat found himself  _liking_ it. Right now, as Marinette explained as simply as possible what she was trying to do with the jacket she was making, letting him offer his opinion here and there. She’d scooted closer, her shoulder leaning against his chest as she explained, “also, I’m thinking about adding something here. Maybe a hat or _something._ ”

He understood, of course, with the amount of photoshoots he’d done through his life; he’d been around people who were rambling these same details as they fitted his clothes. He might not be very technical about it, but he definitely knew what she was talking about. “The buttons look nice” he offered, looking at the pages from over her shoulder.

But it was the  _excitement_  in her voice that made him smile. There were little things in his life that brought this amount of energy out of him; other than his life as Chat Noir. Sure, there were things that he was  _good_  at. And there were a lot of things that he  _enjoyed_  doing. But there was just something about being this  _passionate_  about something that made him smile and want to hear  _more_.

But as she talked about her present, there was a small question nagging on the back of his mind. “Do you always make the presents you give?”

“Mhmm,” Marinette nodded, “It feels more  _personal,_ you know.”

A sad smile crossed his face, though he hid it before she could see, as he remembered how Adrien hadn’t gotten one of his own, “It does,” he agreed. He wondered how to ask  _why_ he hadn’t gotten one, without completely giving away his secret. “Do you… make them for everyone in your class?”

“Yes… well, no.  _Almost.”_ She answered, “Well, there’s this girl in my class,” Marinette began, pursuing her lips as she paused for a second, Sabrina and Chloe’s faces crossing her mind; “I’ve never made anything for her, or her best friend.” She wrinkled her nose for a second, she couldn’t even begin thinking of spending this much amount of time on either of them. Sabrina could be okay  _sometimes;_ mostly when she wasn’t with Chloe, but that rarely happened. “I think they might not even take it from me, to tell the truth, so I don’t really bother.” Her designing was a labor of love; and with the animosity that existed between the girls, it was probably not the best idea for her to put so much of her into something that was likely going to end up discarded in a trash can.

“Ah.” Chat nodded, “Just them?” he inquired, nervously shifting around.

She didn’t seem to catch his nervousness, “Mmhmm” she nodded, “Now that I think about it, I’ve made something for everyone in my class…  _but them_.” She might have not gotten the credit for it, but she still counted the scarf she’d made Adrien as one in her list.

Unfortunately, Chat didn’t know this, and he just couldn’t understand it. What about Adrien? She had mentioned two girls in their class; but that didn’t really include him. She would have said something about classmates, or maybe said anything that would give him a reason. Maybe she’d forgotten?  The thought didn’t make him feel any better, to tell the truth; because he was beginning to find out that he  _wanted_  her to notice him. _Both sides of him_. But he didn’t know of any way to  _ask_  her more about it, without completely blowing his cover; so he would have to let things go for now. Maybe he needed to talk to her some more. Even if they barely interacted, perhaps she didn’t feel like they were close enough?

Well, best let go of that for now… and for tonight, it would seem. Between the time he’d arrived and the amount of time they’d been talking, it had getting later than usual, which was pretty bad, considering that it was a school night.  “Well, Princess” he said standing up and stretching his arms over his head lazily, before he extended his hand to help her up as well. “I’m afraid it’s time for me to  _bid adieu_. After all, it’s a school night… I wouldn’t want to get in the way of your education.” he winked, standing and offering his hand out to her.  

Marinette took his hand and allowed Chat to pull her back to a standing position, “Oh, wow.” she said, her eyes glancing towards the time displayed on her phone’s screen. “It really  _is_  late.”  Marinette stretched her arms over her head, rolling her shoulders back. Her eyes glanced ever so briefly at his lips, as the question of whether he’d kiss her remained in her mind. The look on Chat’s face alerted Marinette to the fact that Chat was getting far too good at reading her and that should have been far more worrying than it actually was.

A boyish grin lit up his face, as he his hand reached for the side of his face, his thumb tracing softly across her cheek. “Princess,” he began, lowering his face to her level, “I’m not going to kiss you unless  _you want me to._ ” Sparking green eyes searched her face for any sort of reaction, and he pressed on. “Do you?”

“Do  _you?”_  she asked, not yet willing to give up the fragile footing she still had with him.

 _“Yes.”_ He answered, his voice soft and so completely  _honest_ , that it made Marinette’s breath hitch in her throat.

“Oh.” Marinette bit her lip, the ball was completely on her court on this; Chat would not make a move until gave him the go ahead, and she was both thankful and annoyed at that. She wasn’t sure she could make the first move when it came to  _them._  “What about the  _complications?_ ”

Chat’s expression turned thoughtful. They  _complications_ were still there, and he wasn’t sure just how to explain to her that he  _liked her,_ when he wasn’t completely sure how he was going to deal with this himself _._ “I think that… you’re really  _incredible_ , and I want to keep coming here if you want me to”. He wasn’t sure about much of anything right now. But what he did know, was that he wasn’t ready to give her up.

Her lips parted, but no sound came from her for a couple of seconds. “Okay.” Marinette  _could_  deal with that; she still wanted him to come back over to her rooftop. Chat was definitely a complication, and while she wasn’t ready to define it, she  _was_  warming up to the concept of accepting it. A little. So she bit her lower lip, looking up at him with nervous blue eyes before saying, “Kiss me?”

He pulled her to him in an instant, one of his hands reaching for her waist and the other tilting her face up for him. Sure, the lowering temperature of the Parisian night made her lips feel cold against his, but they’d warm them in an instant. It was just as wonderful and soft as everything they remembered and  _more._  It was a slow burn, and he found himself relishing in how  _natural,_  it could feel. It wasn’t hesitant, it wasn’t rushed, but it was _perfect_. She fit so flawlessly against him, and he found himself so filled with _joy,_ that he couldn’t help but smile against her lips, as he ran his fingers through her hair.

She pulled away first, her lips quirking up in a smile as she asked, “I thought you had to leave.”

He grinned down at her, green eyes bright and alert. “I got  _distracted.”_ he said, his hand still playing with her hair. Every kiss they’d shared had been different so far, and he wanted to know every single one of them. “I’m going to make like a banana and split.”

“That was a  _terrible pun_  and you should feel bad.” Marinette deadpanned, raising an eyebrow at the blond in clear disapproval. Her words didn’t match her amused voice, and Chat was delighted. “Go home, silly cat.” She pushed lightly at his chest. “You  _clearly_ need to sleep.”  

He laughed and kissed her one more time; unable to stop himself, because she  _asked_ him to, and he wanted to keep drinking in the warmth and happiness she exuded, for as long as she’d let him.  “Sweet dreams, Princess.” he said “I’ll see you soon.”

She watched him leave, his blond hair the only thing that set him apart from the darkness of the night. Once he was far enough, she felt Tikki land on her shoulder and she leaned her face against her kwami. The smile on her face remained as she pet the top of Tikki’s head; “I think I’m in trouble, Tikki.” she said, unable to battle the smile on her face. She  _knew_ she was. But she was beginning to think that it might just be okay.

* * *

The word of the day was  _dreamy._ Marinette was extremely tired, and there was no amount of coffee that would wake her up. The young aspiring designer had resigned herself to the fact that she was going to be  _useless_ today, and had allowed Alya to steer her through the school, since Marinette was spending most actual energy was spent in silly, silly flashbacks to the night before.

They were making their way to the library; they had to work on a biology presentation, and they had been  _thankfully_ allowed to pick their own partners. It was good thing; since Alya was possibly the only one who would willingly deal with her behavior today.

“You’re weird today.” Those were Alya’s first words (or at least the ones she successfully understood today), as they walked to the library; successfully bringing her back from her daydreaming.

“What?” Marinette stammered, placing her things on top of their chosen table, turning her attention to her friend, “I’m just tired today.”

“I know.” Alya said, doing the same thing before the two friends headed over to the bookshelves, searching for their subject. “But it seems that it’s _more than that.”_ Marinette stared at Alya for a second, as her friend lowered her voice; to make sure their conversation remained between the two of them. “You’re chirpy. Sleepy, yes; but chirpy.”

“Chirpy?”

“Yes!” Alya said, “And it’s beginning to  _freak me out.”_

Marinette laughed, leaning against a bookshelf as she talked to her friend, fully unaware of eavesdropping felines on the opposite side. “I think  _you’re_ being weird.”

“Mhmm. You forget I  _know you.”_ Alya said, waggling her finger at Marinette, “I  _know_  when you’re hiding something.”

“I’m not hiding anything!” Marinette defended herself.

“Then stop  _smiling_.”

There was a small snicker on the other side of the bookshelf, but the girls ignored it, as the student’s soft chattering around them made it easy to mistake the source for the sound. Truth was that Adrien was standing on the opposite side of the bookshelf, looking at the same page of the same book for what was around five full minutes now.

Yes; The blond was also very,  _very_ tired; but years in modelling had taught him to mask that tiredness into a carefully constructed look of cool aloofness, which was what he was working now, as he listened to Alya go in on Marinette’s tiredness.

He couldn’t even try and deny that the fact that Marinette was acting, as Alya said  _weirdly cheery_   _today,_ brought a ridiculous amount of warmth into his chest.  _He_ was the one who made her miss sleep; which he should have felt guilty about, but the memory of her face beaming up at his as she told him to go home between kisses was just far too great for him to feel bad about their combined lack of sleep.

Alya kept going on Marinette, “Did something happen with…” the girl trailed off, since she didn’t  _need_ to say the name for Marinette to fully understand. And now Adrien was really, really curious. Because either Alya knew about Chat, or she was talking about Marinette’s  _complication._

“ _What_?  _No! S_ hut up!” The hissed words were the only reply Marinette gave her friend about… whatever subject they were discussing.   _Now_ he was curious. “Not now.”

“Not  _now?”_ Alya said, and Adrien could just  _see_ the triumph on the girl’s face. Alya could be terribly perceptive from time to time. “So _later?”_

“ _No_. There’s nothing to tell!” Marinette hissed, but Adrien wasn’t able to listen to Alya, as he was busted.

“Dude.” Nino’s face was a mixture of amusement and reprimanding and Adrien knew that he’d have no way out of this again. 

That didn’t mean he wouldn’t  _try._ “What?” Adrien said, closing the book he was holding and placing it back on the shelves. “I was checking this one. Doesn’t work.” He picked up another book, hoping that he looked at least half as nonchalant as he was trying to.

_“Dude.”_

A small blush tinged his cheeks, though Adrien did the best to ignore it. “I was just… distracted.”

“Uh huh.” Nino nodded, the expression on his face betraying what he  _really_ thought about Adrien’s excuse. “Get a hold of yourself dude, I’m your friend and all but…  _really.”_ Nino was holding a couple of books, and from first glance, Adrien could see that they were a good starting point.

“Okay.” Nino said, as he plucked another book from the shelves “as your friend, I have a very duty and I  _will accept it.”_

“Huh?”

“I know you can be  _awkward,_ from time to time.” The dark haired boy said “and as your friend, I will now promise to let you only  _toe_ the line between _charmingly unaware_  and  _creepy mc Creeperson_ ” Adrien still looked confused and Nino’s eyes flashed quickly towards where Marinette was sitting.

“It’s… I’m…” Adrien began, holding his hands up as he tried to find a good excuse to cover for himself. But really, how could he possibly explain to his friend that he was just so  _drawn to her_ ; and that he’d been steadily visiting the sweet girl from their class while under cover of his super hero secret identity? No. There was no way to explain himself and he knew it. So he decided to go with a half-truth. “I’m just…intrigued by her.”

“Normal people call that a crush, you know?”

Adrien rolled his eyes; he figured that was correct, but it was beyond that at this point. It was kind of annoying that he couldn’t really share all of this with his friend, but maybe someday he’d be able to share his full personality with his best friend. The mere thought of revealing himself to Marinette crossed his mind recently and he wasn’t sure he would be able to deal with the  _idea_ of revealing his identity to even more people.

The bespectacled boy shook his head, “Come on dude.” Nino said, “let’s get to work.”

The two friends sat on the table over from the two girls, who were already engrossed in her books. Adrien made the mental note to do the same, or else Nino was quite possibly going to smack him.

 Back on the girls’s table, Alya phone buzzed on the desk, and the girl picked it up quickly, unlocking it easily. “Hmm” She hummed as she clearly waited on something to load.

“What?” Marinette said, giving her friend a curious look, looking up from her notes, her pen dangling from her fingers.

“I got a picture for the Ladyblog.” Alya said, tapping on her screen before one eyebrow shot up. “On the Tips account.”

“Cool!” Marinette said, waiting for Alya to show her the picture, as it was usual between them.

“Hmm… _Oh_ ” Alya’s eyebrow shot up, before turning curious eyes towards Marinette. “When did  _this_ happen?”

Marinette recognized the image immediately, though she couldn’t even remember someone taking it. “Oh” Marinette said, feeling warmth spread through her face. It was a picture from the day Chat had intercepted her, the day she had returned home after her suspension had been over; right after the Akuma had shown up and Chat had taken her away to safety. “It looks like more than it was.”

Someone, possibly from inside one of the nearby buildings, had managed to snap a picture right as he was  _literally_  whisking her away, one of his hands wrapped tightly around her waist, keeping her close to him, and his other one holding on to his baton; Marinette’s arms were linked around his neck, as she looked at him with what she  _knew_ had been shock at their sudden moves; but from the angle, it looked like she was looking up at him. It looked far too  _intimate_.

Which it hadn’t been. Back  _then._ Had they taken a picture of them  _now,_ it would look  _worse._ Marinette almost shuddered at the thought of their rendezvous being caught on camera.

Alya gave a surprised look. “… what do you mean?” she asked, a mirthful look appearing in her face “I was just going to point out that you never told me you got rescued by Chat Noir, but… Oh my God! why are you blushing?!” The amateur reporter was almost giddy with excitement. “Are you holding out on me?”

 _Oh come on._ Marinette shook her head “I’m just saying…” she sputtered, “the picture looks… so…”

“Looks so…?” Alya pressed on, thoroughly amused at how awkward Marinette was being. She knew her friend could be shy from time to time, but this was unwarranted.

_“Weird!”_

_“You’re_  being weird” Alya pointed out; “What,” she said, before grinning at her friend and lowering her voice “Oh my God!” Alya  _grinned, “do you have a crush on Chat Noir?”_  she finally asked, brown eyes paying close attention to whatever Marinette was going to say.

A strangled noise left Marinette’s lips, “What?!” she exclaimed, hating herself for giving her friend something to latch on to. “That’s not it… It just looks weird. It was nothing like that” Lies. Lies. Lies. She was yet again lying to her best friend. Although Marinette could argue that during the time that the photo had been taken, it really was nothing like that.  That changed around three hours later though.  

“You do look very damsel in distress- _ey_ ” Alya offered, “Very romance novel cover.”

Marinette wrinkled her nose, unamused. There were far more important questions that needed to be asked here. “Did someone send that?”

“Mhmm,” Alya nodded, “ _ChatLady07_. Oooh, she’s a fan of  _Chat Noir._ I bet she would have  _loved_  to be rescued by him,” the brunette laughed, grinning at her friend’s annoyance

“Are you going to post it?” Marinette inquired, ignoring her friend’s behavior, she was currently more concerned with  _what was going to happen with that picture._

That sobered Alya up.  “I’m  _not_. Which is completely against my  _journalistic_ _integrity_ , but you’re my friend and I know how it would make you feel awkward and all that” she told Marinette, and Marinette’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “And besides, it’s not like you’re  _making out_  with him or something like that.”

There was a loud cough coming from the next table, and their attention was directed to a red faced Adrien who was choking on… something.

Nino turned towards his friend, a concerned look on his face “Dude, you okay?” Nino clapped his friend on the back, as Adrien waved him off, still getting a hold of his breathing.

“I’m fine” Adrien finally croaked out, his face still flushed as he tried to compose himself. “Just…” he grabbed his bottled water and forced some down. “I’m ok.” 

It thankfully provided the distraction Marinette needed to change the subject. “We should probably work on this project,” Marinette pointed out, her finger tapping the pages softly, a barely concealed worried look on her face.  Alya shrugged, turning her attention back to their books.

* * *

Marinette  _paced_. Despite being somewhat able to function the rest of the day, after seeing the  _tip_ on Alya’s phone, which the girl had  _lovingly_ forwarded back to Marinette with the text: ‘ _So you can update your wallpaper ;)’._

Marinette did  _not_  appreciate the humor; but at least she had the picture and could give it some serious thought. Her brain battled with it; on one side, it wasn’t  _that bad._ All her freaking out was probably because she knew just _what_ had happened afterwards. It wasn’t like everyone else  _knew_ just what she had been up to just by looking at the picture. Even the  _caption_  on it was innocent.

But on the other side, the picture was a reminder that she’d already let things get far enough. She was  _risking so much_ , just by letting that silly cat come visit her. If someone took a picture of her, and then began following her around? She wouldn’t be able to  _transform. Or worse;_ someone would see her transform and her secret would be completely exposed.

She had been  _careless._ Completely and absolutely reckless.

Marinette climbed out, taking her seat on the rooftop balcony as she wondered whether Chat would visit today. This was yet another reason why this whole thing she had going on was absolutely stupid. The only way Marinette had to reach Chat was reaching him under their communication device.  _BUT,_ that only worked if she transformed… and since he didn’t even _knew_ she was Ladybug that was out of the equation. The girl made a strangled noise as she hid her face in her hand,  _“stupid, stupid, stupid”_ she muttered, before hitting her forehead with the heel of her hand.

Chat didn’t see her at first; Marinette was huddled in her seat and it seemed that the air of general misery made her seem  _smaller_  than she already was. He frowned and looked around quickly; figuring out tonight’s route. The boy dropped down from the low wall that separated her little spot from the rest of the ceilings and approached her carefully. “Princess?”

Her face snapped up quickly, and it was a relief for him to see that her eyes seemed dry. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if she had been crying. He kneeled before her, reaching for her hand and tilting her face up so she’d look at him. “What’s wrong?”

The girl straightened up, hating how her stomach did a summersault when she saw him. “Chat… No. nothing’s wrong,” she lied, before the feeling of her cellphone resting against her legs reminded that this was a conversation that they should probably really have.

“Wait.” Marinette sighed, mentally bracing herself for a conversation that they should have probably had awhile ago.  She picked up her phone and looked for the picture, before turning the screen towards Chat. “Someone sent this to the ladyblog.”

Chat was actually glad, he had  _wanted_  to see the picture earlier, and this worked perfectly.

“Can I get a copy of this?” Chat asked and Marinette groaned.

“…what?  _No!”_ Marinette frowned, he was  _completely missing the point!_ “That shouldn’t have happened!” Marinette exclaimed, rephrasing when she saw the look on his face. “We can’t get photographed, it’s  _dangerous!_ ”

“ _Marinette_.” Chat said, his voice even and relaxed. He saw absolutely no reason for this freaking out. “There is  _nothing_  dangerous about this picture. I was just getting you away from the danger zone.” he shrugged. He was sure Alya had some other pictures similar on her blog. “I mean, we weren’t even kis…” the rest of his sentence was muffled when her hand flew to his mouth, and he laughed, the sound hidden behin dher hand. 

He wouldn’t say it to her face, lest she’d go back inside in a huff, but he thought she was being adorable about this whole thing.

Marinette, however, thought Chat was being  _obtuse_  about this whole thing. “Shhhh!” she hissed, before slowly removing her hand from his mouth, narrowing her eyes at the amused smile that it uncovered. “Stop!”

“I don’t get why you’re making such a big deal about this!” 

 _Of course he didn’t._ Marinette sighed, “Chat, what if people saw you coming here.” Because, they seemed to be spending an awful lot of time. Granted, there were no taller buildings around from where to get a better angle on _accident,_  but if someone knew… they could definitely bust them. And there would be no lying to Alya this time. Hell, Alya would be the  _easy_  thing to deal with if something like that happened.

“I’m careful!” he pointed out. He actually  _was._ He never took the same route to her rooftop and he  _looked around._  Granted, he wasn’t really careful if she _distracted_  him, but he tried.

“Well.” Marinette looked flustered, realizing that Chat was not seeing her point. “It’s dangerous, besides… I don’t know” She paused, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently as she clearly made up something on the go to  _keep arguing about._ “I could very well be some sort of evil person waiting for you to lower your guard, you know,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

He snorted, “Well, are you?”

“I  _could be!”_ Marinette huffed, throwing her arms out in the air. “That’s not the point!”

“I don’t get why you’re freaking out!” he pointed out, his green eyes confused. It was like she was  _trying_ to pick a fight.

He didn’t get why she was freaking out? Marinette huffed, because  _really… did_  he have time? Because she could go a long time on  _that_  particular topic. “Well, I don’t know who you are!”

His face sobered a little. That… was not completely true. “You might not know my name, but are you sure you don’t know  _who I am?”_ Because there was just  _so much more to him_  than the name Adrien Agreste, and he was sure that Marinette could see that by now.

She deflated immediately. Marinette ran a hand through her hair, biting her lip nervously. He had a point there, she might not know his name, but she knew so much about him. Which in turn made everything so much more complicated. “Chat…” she began, her voice softening considerably from what it had been before. “I’m worried. This is really dangerous!” It really was, for more reasons than she was able to tell him right now. If these little rendezvous became public knowledge, then she might just begin being _followed,_ and if that happened… then becoming Ladybug could prove dangerous. For him, her;  _their friends and family!_  “You don’t know what could happen if people  _knew!”_

His expression softened a little “I would  _never_  let anything happen to you”

“That’s not the point,” she said. She knew he would. She knew he would put his life on the line f or her, and that was whole another thing to worry. “This shouldn’t happen Chat.” she said, biting her lower lip, feeling the burn of her words sting deep in her chest. “You  _know_  that.”

There were  _complications_ ; complications that were beyond their confused feelings, and it seemed that they’d caught up with them now. It was no longer  _just_ the battle between each other and their unattainable crush; there were actually real dangers involved. 

Chat had finally sobered up by now. His hand reached for hers, and one of her covered fingers reached for hers, linking them together. “If you want me to leave, tell me and I will” He felt his chest constrict as she seemed to think about it. He just really hoped she wouldn’t say it.

Her skin flushed even more than before, this was  _crazy_. She still didn’t know _his name,_ but… she knew  _him;_ could that be enough? She knew he was kind and fiercely loyal, and that he would do so much to make her smile. Even now, as they talked, she could  _see it in his eyes,_ that he had wanted to kiss her the moment he’d landed on the rooftop; but he would never take the initiative unless she gave him the go ahead. He always did. 

“You  _should,_ ” she whispered, her eyes cast downwards, though her fingers were still linked with his. It was the  _sane_  thing to do. The  _right_ thing to do. Sure, it didn’t feel  _right_ saying this to him right now, but Marinette was sure that once she wasn’t  _near_ him; once she was able to not  _feel_ him near her, she’d be able to think clear and hopefully she’d be able to understand how this was the right choice. For both of them. Her gaze was fixated on the ground, and she could feel her eyes beginning to sting, and she refused to let him see.

“I… I see.” he simply said, and it  _killed_ her to feel the overwhelming sadness in his voice. Especially since it was her that caused it in the first place.  His hand let go of hers, sliding away slowly until they were no longer touching. “I understand, Princess.” he said, cupping the sides of her face before brushing a kiss against her forehead, lingering for a couple of seconds, as he tried to gather the strength to pull away.

She closed her eyes and leaned into his hand, knowing that it was probably the last time she’d be able to do this. Because once he pulled away, he’d leave, and Marinette would not see Chat Noir ever again.  _Ladybug_  would, but it seemed that the mask made it somehow easier to keep her distance from him. Ladybug was his trusted partner, but they didn’t… do any of these things, and it was probably for the best. 

Sure, it would be awkward at first, but then… it would probably be okay, right?  _It had_ to be that way.

He looked at her face with sad eyes, feeling the disappointment tighten in his chest so badly that it almost made it hard to breathe. His thumb traced softly across her cheek, and he wanted once more to be able to feel her skin against his fingertips, because he  _knew_  that it was the last time, and it was the most unfair thing in the world; to have  _had_  her this close to him, to have held her, ran his hands through her hair, and not be able to know how she _felt_  against his bare hands.

She was conflicted too, he could  _see_  it on her face, the way she leaned against his touch, and how her lips parted, as if to say something before closing again. In a way, he was glad she wasn’t looking at him right now, because if her eyes looked as sad as he knew his did, he was not going to be able to leave, and Chat knew he  _had_  to.

He  _understood_ … It was too much. They  _were_ being absolutely reckless, even if these past few days had been the highlight of his entire  _year_. Marinette had absolutely no idea just how she was taking over his heart in a way that he hadn’t expected, but really, what kind of future could he offer her? He wasn’t ready yet to tell her  _everything_ ; and how could you start  _anything_ that way?  

She didn’t deserve to be dragged into the mess that was his life, either Chat’s or Adrien’s.  He let his hands slid away from her face and his chest tightened at the small forlorn sigh that left her lips. He turned around, walking the few steps that separated from the wall, feeling like his feet were weighted down by lead shows. He needed to leave fast. Because every single brain cell was yelling at him to turn around and  _make her understand._

“Wait!”

Chat turned around slowly, not daring to even breathe as he faced her again, eagerly waiting for whatever she was going to say. But she didn’t speak at first, battling her thoughts as she tried to find the will to speak again.

“Yes?” he asked, examining her face with a hopeful look on his face. He could  _see_  her, her mind probably arguing a thousand different alternatives, and there was a small flicker of hope lighting up in his chest.

“I’m…” she began, biting her lower lip in hesitation, running one of her hands through her hair, mussing it up even more than it was before.

“You…” Chat pressed on, holding his breath.

“I’m going to do something  _stupid._ ”

His eyes widened at first, recognizing his own words but he before he could even try to reply something; she had crossed the few steps that were currently separating them and had  _launched_ herself at him, crashing her lips into him with a force he wasn’t expecting. He stumbled back a few steps, his back hitting the wall behind them with a small thud, feeling her arms reach for his neck, one hand cupping his face and the other gripping his shoulder tightly.

She was full of surprises, and he wouldn’t mind any of them as long as she kept surprising  _him._ His hands reached for her hips, lifting her up and shifting them around, pressing her against the wall; where she finally relaxed against him.  

His hand cupped her face, and he kissed her like he’d wanted to ever since their first kiss, which seemed ages ago. He tilted her face to the side, deepening the kiss, only able to hear her soft hum against his lips and the thundering beating of his own heart. He just  felt her  _fire_  cursing through his bloodstream as he finally let go of every little bit of reason and logic. He was dizzy and drunk on her and he didn’t care. He was  _hers_. 

And whatever doubt he might had had before was long erased as he felt hands play with the end of his hair. She was holding him close to her and he  knew that very second that he wasn’t going to be able to let her go; he wanted to keep burning with her, as brightly as she’d let him.

Sure, this might have been insanity. It was by far the craziest thing either of them could do; but the heart wanted what it wanted and right now it was this,  _them. Each other._

He felt her kiss his lower lip and he  _knew_ that if they kept this up his legs weren’t going to be able to hold them up much longer. Chat shifted them around again, and began to slowly slide down the wall until he was sitting on the ground, taking her down with him.

His hands were losely around her waist, and his eyes opened once she began pulling away first, kissing him softly again in soft, delicate brushes as she tried to catch her breath, “Don’t leave,” she whispered, eyes closed as her forehead rested against his, “I don’t know  _what_   _I’m doing_ … but don’t leave.”

His only reply was to kiss her again. He wasn’t sure he could leave her even if he wanted to.


	4. Running on Sunshine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Plagg is helpful, Marinette is confused and Adrien somehow isn’t.

They stayed up late. So very late; in fact, that neither Chat nor Marinette wanted to look at the time because it would cement the fact that he had to go.

But the clock didn’t lie, and once they’d looked at it, it was time to face the truth, and so…Marinette almost pushed him out, insisting that she was  _not_ going to be the one to blame when he crashed against a building or wall, or anything like that. But she smiled as she did so, giggling as he kissed her again and again, delaying his departure as much as possible and even the notion that he’d sleep for less than three hours was  _okay_ , because she was smiling at him with tousled hair, looking so freshly kissed that it was really hard for him to leave.

 _I’ll see you tomorrow?_ She asked and he only said yes, because after tonight, he couldn’t say anything else. She laughed and kissed him again and he’d finally began making his way home.

He’d fallen asleep with a smile on his face.

Sure, he’d woken up with less hours of sleep than usual, feeling tired, but there was still a spring on his step. The blond hummed to himself, as he jumped out of the bed and headed towards the shower, his singing continuing as he finally got himself ready for the day.

Plagg was clearlyjudging him though. “You’re being really weird right now, kid.” The kwami looked rubbed a tiny paw over his face. He had just as much rest as Adrien did, and right now he was and looked  _exhausted…_ Which was how Adrien should have felt, to tell the truth. And in all reality, this whole cheery thing the blond had going on was only helping in annoying Plagg even more. “Feed me, kid. I’m dying over here. I  _need_ energy!”

Adrien paused “I’ll run by the kitchen to see what I can find.” he said, lips pursued as he thought about it. “Or we could stop to get something bef… no. After school… I don’t think we’ll find anywhere open before.”  

The kwami’s green eyes widened. But really, Adrien was in such a good mood, that he wouldn’t even question Plagg’s requests. Sure, he still had some Gouda on one of the drawers in his desk, but… the kwami had been a rather instrumental part on all his visits. So no, he decided that Plagg deserved a little treat.

Besides, the surprised look on Plagg’s face was absolutely hilarious.

“You know, there’s this  _gruyere_ I’ve been meaning to try…” Plagg trailed off, the look on his face nonchalant and as innocent as he could make it.

“Yeah, sure… we can stop after class if there’s nothing in the kitchen.” Adrien said, and picked up his things, ready to go to school. He opened his bookbag and Plagg zipped towards it in a hurry.

* * *

Marinette knew that she should have felt more exhausted than she really felt. Sure, she did  _look_ a little tired, her mom had said so, but she was doing surprisingly good considering that she had  _barely_ had slept. Granted, that probably had a  _lot_  to do with the cup of extremely strong coffee she was drinking as she got ready for school, but she wasn’t complaining.

And then, she looked at the time.

“Tikki, I’m going to be late!”

The kwami gave her a confused look. “That’s what I’ve been telling you…” Tikki blinked repeatedly, “You weren’t listening to anything I said, were you?”

Marinette flushed, “I’m sorry…” she apologized, as she grabbed her things “I’m just… a little distracted.” That was the understatement of the century. Marinette had for  _once_ gotten up in time to go to school, she had more than enough time to get ready; so there was no real reason for her to be late. Other than the constant spacing out, of course.  

Tikki giggled, “Oh Marinette…” she said, the expression on the kwami’s face somewhere between amused and sympathetic, “Let’s just hurry up, you can still make it on time.”

“Right.” Marinette opened her purse and Tikki dove into it, as she hurried out towards the school.

Years of being late for school had made her quite good at running, and she got to the classroom quickly. She could hear the teacher inside, but she could only hope that the class hadn’t officially started just yet. Once she was outside of the closed room, the girl listened in… there was still quiet chatter, which meant that they’d probably hadn’t started the actual class just yet. Marinette opened the door as slowly and quietly as she was able to and looked inside.

Adrien’s head snapped up when she arrived and their glances crossed. He gave her a small smile and he turned towards the teacher, who had her back to them now and nudged his head to the side, urging her in.

Marinette could feel her face heating up and she hurried in as quietly as possible, and settled quickly in her seat. Okay, Marinette could just  _not deal_ with Adrien being so  _Adrien-ey_  right now. Why was it that he was actually _looking_  at her now? Was it like a sixth sense men had? To know when a girl was just beginning to move on and just up the charm? Because Marinette could  _not deal with this!_

Alya gave her a small look and Marinette simply passed a small note that read ‘ _Overslept’,_  and turned her attention towards the front.  _Focus Marinette… Focus._   The blue eyed girl did her best effort to ignore anything other than what the Teacher was doing, even trying to ignore the blond boy sitting right before her.

She was just not ready for  _any of this_  today. Not after last night. Because, she might not know exactly what was going on between her and Chat; but she was thinking that maybe,  _just maybe_ she wanted to find out. And for her to be able to do that, she needed to extract herself from this situation; or at least just  _try_  and keep away from any further confusion.

However, doing so was very difficult; especially as Marinette glanced at the notes passing between Alya and Nino. She did not know what they were saying, but she was pretty sure she  _did not want to know_. Especially because Nino glanced at her and then Adrien.

“Thank you for joining us today, Marinette,” the teacher said, giving her a pointed look before she turned her attention back to the class. Marinette sank even further in her seat. “Alright Class,” the older woman continued, “I hope you’re ready to present your work from yesterday.”  

Marinette panicked for a second, she hadn’t even  _remembered_  to print out her review cards and she turned a worried glance at Alya who simply snorted and slid an extra copy across their desk.

Marinette exhaled loudly, taking the cards and reviewing them quickly. “You’re the  _best_.” She whispered.

“I  _know_.” Alya said, glancing at her nails with a smug look on her face.

Marinette was really thankful that Alya  _knew her._ Granted, that made lying to her friend so much more difficult, and definitely made her feel guiltier about having to do the effort; but that was a thought for another time. She needed to review a little more before they were up. 

The good thing was that Marinette knew what was on them, they had done the work just yesterday, but it wouldn’t hurt her to read them over a few times before it was their turn.

“Alya and Marinette, you’re going up first.”

Marinette sighed.  _Of course._

Thankfully, their presentation went with almost without a hitch. It wasn’t that Marinette  _liked_  talking in public, but she wasn’t bad at it either. Especially with Alya by her side, ready to help if she made a mistake. Granted, she had stammered a little bit when her eyes crossed path with Adrien’s but it was nothing that  _staring at the back wall intently_  wouldn’t solve. See? Normal solutions.

She was completely  _screwed_.

* * *

Somehow, the rest of the day had gone by without incident; Adrien and Nino had presented their project and Adrien had managed to  _not_  stare at Marinette when she tapped her pencil against her lips. He counted that as a success,  _really_. Nino would have  _not_  let him get away with that.

Adrien, however had realized that Marinette had been a little bit… skittish.  Well,  _even more than usual._  Then again, they were both running on little sleep today… and while he was kind of  _used_ to it, between late night or early morning photoshoots (or finishing a  _full_ season of a show in one night);  he didn’t know if Marinette was.

He had wanted to get a chance to talk to her today. There was just an overwhelming need to get her to like him too. As  _Adrien_. He wanted to see the Marinette he always saw at night; the bright, caring,  _funny_  Marinette that eluded Adrien so much.

So he had a bit of a plan. The school day was finally over, and he was currently by his locker, shuffling his things in and out of his bookbag, making time as he waited for the room to empty a little bit more; and for Marinette to get going. Maybe she’d be more open to talking or something if there wasn’t an audience.

Adrien busied himself with his bag, delaying his departure as much as possible. Nino, being the best, supportive friend he was, had simply patted him on the shoulder and left him, jogging away and taking Alya along with him, the two of them disappearing through the doors.

Well,  _thank you, Nino_.

He glanced at Marinette as she finally closed her locker and turned away, clearly looking for her best friend. This was his chance. “Hey! Marinette!”

“Adrien?” Marinette turned toward the blond, a slightly surprised look on her face, and he found that he didn’t know how to begin.

“So… I think Alya and Nino ditched us,” he began, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, “I saw them leave a little bit ago.”

Her eyes widened a little, an knowing and amused expression flashing on her face quickly, before she masked it away. “Oh.”

The look on her face told him that she  _definitely_ knew something about that. Which he would ask about, but they didn’t quite have the confidence to do so just now. His thumb played along the strap of his book bag, “They’re probably just outside,” he offered, “want to walk together?“  

Her cheeks tinged pink but she nodded, “Sure,” she said and began walking, the two of them falling into an awkward silence.

Adrien couldn’t handle it. Conversation flowed just so easily when he had the mask on. He’d tease her, she’d joke back and it’d be so  _easy. Natural even._ “So, how did you did on the Physics Quiz?” He asked. There. He’d start with school work. That was safe _, right?_

Marinette wrinkled her nose, and he had to fight the smile on his face, “I’m… not really sure.” she began, “I’m pretty sure I got that last question wrong.”

Adrien perked up. Sure, it wasn’t the most heartfelt conversation, but it wasn’t  _silence._ “Really?” He asked, “What did you get?”

Marinette bit her lip, as she tried to remember. “Um… I think It was something like forty four for the acceleration…” she finally lifted her gaze to look at Adrien. “That wasn’t it, was it?”

He gave her a sympathetic look, “It was thirteen.” he flashed her a sympathetic smile, though he felt kind of giddy at finally seeing her  _relax_ around him. Well, somewhat, at least.

She exhaled loudly, holding her to her chest. “Well, figures.” she said, “It’s just not my best class…”

The pair had already reached the outside of the school, and he knew that their alone time had come to an end, “I like physics,” he offered. It was one of his favorite classes after all. “I could… tutor you… if you want.”

The look on her face was absolute surprise, “Uh…” she stammered a little, pink coloring her cheeks again, “I… don’t know, I don’t want to be a bother…”

“It wouldn’t be!” he insisted, “I’d be glad to help.”

Marinette shuffled on her feet, biting her lower lip nervously. “I’ll… think about it?” she offered, before looking over his shoulder, to where he knew her home was. “I have to help my parents at the shop today,” she avoided his gaze, and he could guess that it was a lie. “So I should probably go.” She wiggled her fingers at him in an attempt of a wave “See you tomorrow!” Marinette turned on her heel and hurried away towards the bakery, leaving Adrien even more confused than before.  

* * *

Adrien just didn’t get it. He had been trying to _talk to her_ but she just didn’t let him in at all. She had pretty much bolted from him, and he just  _knew_ that she was not going to take him up on his offer. He paced across his room, which thankfully offered enough space to do so.

Plagg was sitting on his desk, watching the boy pace. “What’s bothering you?”

“Do you think she hates me?”

The kwami sighed. “Alright.” he floated towards him and Adrien could just _see_  that he was going to get Plagg’s advice whether he wanted it or not. “Here’s what I think, because I could hear all your sad awkward conversation.” Plagg nodded towads the desk “Go on, sit.” 

Adrien sat down by his desk, and Plagg followed, settling in front of him as he began pacing, his tiny hands motioning as he tried to explain his point to the blond. “Here’s the thing. You like the girl, right?” Plagg didn’t even wait for Adrien’s answer. “And she likes you too… judging by all the…  _you know.”_

The kwami let Adrien have a few seconds to look properly embarrassed, and once Plagg was satisfied by the reaction; he continued. “And she doesn’t know that it’s  _your ugly mug_  the one behind that mask! And she probably thought you were going to ask her out or something… And since she doesn’t know you’re  _Chat… are you getting my drift?_ ”

Adrien sighed, but he could see Plagg’s point. But he couldn’t help the need to get to know her more, as both Chat  _and_ Adrien. And he wanted to know if she could like  _Adrien_ too. “I guess.”

“Good.” Plagg said, nodding along as he continued pacing over the desk’s surface. “But anyway… Do you like her?”

Adrien nodded.

“Really, really like her?” the kwami asked, “Because I don’t think you can keep doing this for too long, you know. It  _is_ pretty risky. You have to decide what to do.”

“I know.” Adrien said, and the idea was terrifying. Especially with the fact that Marinette was his classmate; if she didn’t take it well, then seeing her face at school was going to be heartbreaking.

But if she  _did_ … then it could be even better than what he’d imagined. Having someone who would completely understand what his life was.

“I think….I’m getting there.” 

The kwami nodded, “So, what about Ladybug?”

Adrien tapped his chin with his index finger, clearly pondering the whole situation. “I would have to tell her first, I think.” Sure, Ladybug had never been partial to the idea of revealing their identities, but if he was going to do so to a civilian… she should probably know of his plans too. She might chastise him for being reckless, but… he hoped that she would understand. 

“You’re telling her that you’re with another girl?” Plagg asked, green eyes narrowed in disbelief.

“Well…” Adrien began, frowning a little… Plagg made it sound weird. But in the end, it was the truth, “Yeah, I think so.” It was probably going to be a really awkward conversation, considering how long he’d pined for her. But meeting Marinette had showed him a whole new side for what feelings could be. He was  _happy_  with her, and he could imagine himself being _happier_. And if she’d take him, he only hoped that he could do the same for her.

“You’re not trying to make her jealous, are you?” Plagg asked, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

“Who? Ladybug?” He asked, and his face showed how disappointed he was. “I’m not!” he exclaimed, “I wouldn’t do that!” To  _either_ of them. Ladybug was his partner, and he trusted her with everything in his life. Even the knowledge that he was falling for someone else. And yes, he still loved her, but he could see how that love morphed into something else. “She’s my partner, and I guess… it’s okay that it didn’t happen between us.” It was a weird thing to hear himself say those words out loud. Maybe he truly was ready to let the dream go.

“So, because Ladybug wasn’t available?”

“That’s not it,” Adrien said, clearly exasperated at Plagg’s implications, “That’s not why I like Marinette.” It really wasn’t. He hadn’t gone to her in a hope of getting certain needs met. The only reason Chat had returned after so long to her balcony, was because he wanted to check on her… it was only because of just how  _great_  she was, that he kept coming back again and again, and he now knew that he couldn’t stop. He  _wanted_ to be a part of her life. And he wanted her to be a part of his as well.

“Then?” he asked, “What do you like about the girl?”

Adrien looked at Plagg, thoroughly confused at the sudden and very profound interest the kwami was taking on his love life. “Well… do you not hear her?” he said, “she’s amazing, you know. Hilarious, and… so sweet and kind,” Not anyone would stay up until late to feed a stray cat some homemade treats. “She’s so brave and loyal and…” he trailed off, trying to find the words to describe what he wanted to say.

 _“And?”_  Plagg pressed.

“There’s more, but I don’t even know how I can describe it.” She was just _more_ than the assortments of qualities she had; there was this whole mix of her shyness, her strengths, her kindness, her  _laughter,_  that drew him like a moth to a flame. He couldn’t even begin to describe what it was, but it was something just so  _her_  that it made his heart skip a beat.

“And the fact she’s pretty helps too, right?”

A strangled noise left Adrien’s lips, and he blushed. Well, it didn’t  _hurt._

Plagg looked satisfied with the answers, and it seemed like he was finally going to drop that subject. “Then I’m guessing she gets the final rose?”

“Final rose? Should I get her flowers?”

Plagg rubbed his face with his tiny paw, clearly exasperated at Adrien,  _“I’m_ the final rose!” he said, “Me!” The kwami paused for a second, thinking before elaborating on his idea. “Because, if you really go for her, then you’re going to have to reveal yourself. Then she meets me.  _That’s_ why I am the final rose.”

Ah. Plagg watched The Bachelorette again, “Your taste in television worries me.”

Plagg was about to reply when there was a knock on his bedroom wall. The kwami hid quickly, like he usually did as Adrien walked over to the door to answer. “Hello Nathalie,” he greeted his father’s assistant cordially, as the woman handed over a small sheet of paper.

“Adrien.” the woman said, “There’s a photoshoot scheduled for midnight.”

“Tonight?” the boy asked, clearly confused at the sudden change of schedule.

“Yes, there is a full moon and you know how Jean Pierre is…” the woman trailed off, her eyes focusing on his face for a second. “You should probably sleep a little so you look more refreshed later. We should be leaving at around 11:30. So you should be ready by then.”

“Thank you.” He said, his eyes scanning at the new weekly schedule. “I’ll see you then,”

The woman nodded and turned away to leave. Well, clearly there was not going to be a chance for him to visit Marinette  _after_ patrolling. But… what if he did so  _before?_

“Plagg?”  

The kwami came out of his hiding spot, a knowing look on his tiny face. “We’re going now, aren’t we?” Plagg stated, clearly familiar with how Adrien’s mind worked by now.

The blond flashed a sheepish smile. “At least it’s dark already…” he offered, for once glad that the sun set so much earlier at this time of the year.  “And I _did_ get you that gruyere…” he offered.

The kwami sighed, though it was far more for dramatics than  _actually_ feeling annoyed. “I guess…”

Adrien grinned, reaching for his bag and bringing out a small bag. “I also got camembert at the shop…” he offered, laughing when the kwami dove for it.

“Fine, you have convinced me!” Plagg said, eating the cheese within seconds, “We’re going to the girl then!”

* * *

After the conversation he and Plagg had, and quite surprised at just how agreeable the kwami was to the idea of Marinette; he had decided that he was going to come clean. Well, not today, since he still needed to let Ladybug know of his plans, but he was finally getting there; and if he saw his partner tonight, he was definitely going to talk to her about it.

He landed on her rooftop, and as he was going to tap on the glass trapdoor, he heard  _it_. She was inside…  _singing._  It was silly and obviously not for anyone to hear, but he just couldn’t help himself. She was just so distracted, it was the perfect opportunity. He lifted the latch and dropped inside the room, “Hi Princess!”  

Marinette squawked, dropping the clothing she was carrying as she took a few steps back in shock. Her eyes found him easily and he just  _couldn’t_ help the grin that took over his face.

“Chat!” she hissed, her hands on her hips as she tried to chastise him, but he was clearly too far gone to even try and fake repentance “You scared me!” she told him, narrowing her eyes as she reached for the pillow on top of the lounge chair and chucking it his face. “Don’t do that again!”

He caught the pillow without any trouble, and dropped it on top of her bed. “Sorry!” he said, flashing her the least apologetic smile in the history of smiles.

Blue eyes glanced from him towards the floor, where he could now see a small closed trapdoor, probably the  _proper_  way inside the room. “Just come on down!” she huffed, turning around to fiddle with the volume on her computer.

Well, he had thought she would have just gone on upstairs, but he wasn’t going to say  _no_  to that invitation. He dropped down easily, doing his best not to make too much noise as he landed on the wooden floor.

“Hi!” He placed a finger under her chin, tilting her face up to him.

She smiled at him, even if she clearly tried to fight it. “Hi.”

“Sorry I scared you.” He offered, his thumb rubbing a soft circle on her cheek.

She rolled her eyes, but leaned into his touch, “No, you’re not.” she said, before she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek softly.

She was  _right_. He had been far too entertained by the flustered girl to  _really_ feel sorry about it.  He let his hand fall from her face and reached for her hand, as he looked at her outfit. She was wearing a dress, fitted around her torso and flaring after her waist; the fabric was a dark blue, which made her eyes look even brighter.  He flashed her a lopsided grin, “You look really pretty,” he said, lifting his hand above her head and twirling her.

She laughed softly but went along, “Silly cat. I’m going to the movies with Alya in a little while.” She laced her fingers with his as she led him towards the very pink lounge chair on her room and he sat down, tugging her next to him, “I thought I’d see you much later.”

He grinned “I was just passing by and heard your little concert, Princess.” He told her, noticing how her cheeks were turning pinker by the second, “I just _had_ to come and give you a standing ovation.”

Her cheeks puffed, clearly she’d hoped that he hadn’t heard her, “Ugh!” She said, pushing at his chest before getting up, walking a couple of steps away from him, and covering her face with her hands. “Well, I didn’t think I had _someone_  listening in!” she mumbled from behind her hands.  

The blond stood up, walking towards her and he reached for her hands, uncovering her face as he grinned at her. “Again,  _sorry_.” He sobered up a little, “But the truth is that I wasn’t sure I could drop by later on tonight.” He told her. With the photoshoot he had to do, after patrolling for a little while, he had to return home and get to that shoot. And he just  _knew_ that it was going to take a long time; he’d worked with that particular photographer before and he was familiar with his mods. There would have been  _no way_ that he’d make it back to her tonight. “And I wanted to see you…”

“Oh!” Marinette smiled at him, “Well, I’m glad you came.”

It was then when he saw it. Right by her computer, in a small bulletin board. _His face._ Well, his face without the mask. Adrien froze for a second, and it was like gears began turning in his head.

Marinette seemed to have caught what he was looking at, since she was trying to  _subtly_  steer him away from there and back to the seat; tugging him away by his hand.

“So, do you have any recommendations for the movies?” she asked, in what he would later define  _transparent_ attempt at diverting his attention. There were modelling pictures, which in theory wasn’t much of a big deal, but coupled with the way she was acting right now…

Oh.

_Oh._

His eyes widened slightly, but he did his best to control the expression on his face. Was… _he_  her  _complication?_  Adrien? Then, Marinette didn’t dislike him… _OH._

It would definitely add to what Plagg said, as to why she’d evaded him today, and explain her behavior around him. She liked Adrien too! His smile widened as he looked down at Marinette, and her useless attempts at nonchalance, while she tried to steer him away. He decided to let her win this one for now and let her drag him away; waiting for her to relax a little before wrapping his arms around her waist, her back pressed against her chest and snuggled his face against hers.

“Chat!” she let out a surprised laugh as he nuzzled her, “Your hair is tickling me!”  

He rubbed his face against her again, chuckling as she squirmed in his arms. “Behave!” she began squirming; so he loosened the hold around her, giving her the room to move away if she wanted. But she didn’t, simply turning around until she could finally look at his face again. Her face was still pink, but the look on her face was affectionate and it warmed his heart. “What’s gotten into you?” she asked.

“You did.” he said, emboldened by his recent discovery. Sure, he still needed to see  _how_  he was going to break the news to Marinette, but knowing that at least there was just one obstacle less in this crazy situation he’d found himself in… well, his luck seemed like it was beginning to turn around.

It was just seemed so obvious now, but then again he’d never been very good with these kind of things. He was just… not very good at reading people or social situations sometimes; and it showed when it came to things like this. And he was clearly not very smart, if it took him  _this_ long to notice her. “I like you.” he added.

Marinette’s eyes widened at his admission, and he could have drowned in all the blue. She looked away from him, a bashful smile on her face  as an airy laugh left her lips. She looked back at him, biting her lower lip “Well, I like you too.” she said, her face bright red, but her eyes filled with warmth.

Her phone buzzed right then, interrupting the current mood; and Marinette’s face turned in the direction of the sound. “That’s probably Alya,” she said, and Chat let go of her, so she could go to her phone which was buzzing with text messages. “Let me see if she’s near.”  

He nodded, and headed back to the lounge, green eyes glancing towards her desk, where  _those_  pictures were still looking back at him and then back at her, as she replied the messages she’d gotten.

Once she was done, she walked over to him, and Chat reached for her hand, tugging her down towards him, an invitation Marinette took gladly, settling down on his lap and, resting her arms over his shoulders. She gave him a small look, as if trying to decipher what was going through his head “What?” she asked.

He grinned at her, a teasing smile on his face “You  _like_ me _.”_ he said, his arms wrapping around her waist.

Marinette’s left eyebrow rose high, blue eyes twinkling in amusement. “I’ve kissed you a lot, you absolute walnut.” She deadpanned, “I’d think I’ve made my point  _pretty clear.”_

He was amused, since she didn’t  _quite_  know yet just how his little discovery related to what they had. Sure, he was going to discuss this little development with Plagg once he got home, and hopefully all the cheese he’d given the kwami would make him more agreeable to give him proper advice.  But then again, Plagg seemed to be shockingly agreeable to the idea of Marinette now.

However her choice words for insult made him snort. “Walnut?” he asked, an entertained look on his face.

“Yes.”

Their gazes met and he saw the sheer affection that her face held for him, and he felt a surge of warmth spread through his chest. His hand cupped the side of her face and she leaned into the touch, a soft smile on her face, “well, I like you too.” he told her, “even if you insult me.”

Marinette laughed, “Poor kitty.” she leaned closer and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Better?”

“Not quite.”

Marinette kissed him again, her lips lingering over his before asking one more time. “And now?”

“Getting there.”

She bit her lower lip, her face still so very close to him that he couldn’t help himself and he closed the distance between them, his lips to hers in soft, deliberate touches.  It was almost playful, and devastatingly sweet; lips touching again and again as he let his fingers rub small circles on the small of her back.

He mourned the fact that her hair was tied up; since he kept on visiting her during the night, he had almost always seen her with her hair down and he had to confess, he liked it. She looked pretty both ways, really; but since it was something so new to him, it felt like it was only  _him_  that got to see her like that, and that knowledge made him happy. And he  _loved_ running his hands through the lose stands of hair. As if it was something solely for him.

But still, he placed one hand on the side of her face, his other still holding her body close to his; but she tugged his lower lip between hers and the room charged up with electricity. He couldn’t be sure whether  _she pulled_  or _he pushed_ , but their center of gravity shifted and then they were both sprawled on her lounge chair, scrambling to get comfortable without breaking apart from their kiss. Her back hit the cushions and he went with her, as if following a magnetic pull. Well, it kind of  _was…_

He broke away for a second, his breathing ragged as he opened his eyes, looking down at her flushed face, just a couple of inches from his own.

“And now?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Chat groaned, and kissed her again, his body flush over hers as her legs tangled with his, her hands gripping onto his shoulders tightly. He supported his weight on one shoulder, running his other hand up from her hips to her waist. He traced her lower lip with his tongue and the breathy sound that came out of her lips encouraged him, kissing her with renewed fervor, as he felt her hands gripping the ends of his hair and pulling him  _closer._

He felt drunk off of her, utterly  _intoxicated_  with the taste of her lips. He was _addicted_  to the sounds she made when he gripped her hip, when he caught her lower lip between his; he ran his hand up and down her side, letting his claws trail softly over the path his hands had just covered. Her shuddery gasp was all the answer he needed and he smiled against her lips, clearly proud of himself.

Marinette’s hands smoothed across his back, her fingers tracing over the seams on his suit, his  _extremely annoying suit_  and he shuddered breaking apart from her to catch his breath, lips lingering over hers before they begun to trail soft kisses on her jaw and down her neck, feeling the goosebumps he left on its wake. He paused on the spot right above her pulse and sucked, letting his teeth scrape over the delicate skin; thoroughly enjoying how she _gasped_  his name.

Her fingers closed on his hair and she tugged his head away from her,  _hard,_ and Chat wondered for a second whether he’d pushed  _a little too far_ , but then she angled his face to expose his throat to her and her lips began kissing up the center of his throat, her devious little tongue licking over his Adam’s apple. “Princess…” he breathed, eyes closed as he felt her lips explore the small sliver of skin that was available for her. This…  _this_ was also good.

She battled with the top of his suit and grumbled, her lips still attached to the very small sliver of skin his suit exposed. “Unfair.” she muttered, before resuming her exploration.

But then… It was probably some sort of self-preservation; or maybe his miraculous gave him a better  sense of hearing or something along those lines, or if it was Plagg giving him a heads up, but his brain processed the  sounds coming from downstairs, even if it took him a couple of seconds to _understand them._

 _“Don’t worry Mrs Cheng, I’ll just go on right up_!”  Alya’s voice, clear as day, was getting closer by the second.

His head snapped up and he looked down at her; Marinette’s eyes were wide with panic, she had clearly heard Alya as well; “Alya!” she mouthed and she pushed at his chest. Chat’s head looked around, first glancing at the open trapdoor to the rooftop, which he would definitely not make in time; and the trapdoor that led  _into_ the house.

This was  _not_  an ideal situation.

Cursing low under his breath he scrambled off of Marinette, who pulled herself up to a sitting position, smoothing her skirt over her legs. Oh no, Chat could  _hear_ Alya coming up, the steps on the ladder that he had never seen but just  _knew_ was there almost comically louder in his panic addled mind, and  _just_  as the girl was pushing it open, he  _stepped on it;_ snapping it shut with a loud noise. Sure, it wasn’t the most elegant solution, but Marinette was frozen in place, blue eyes widened in shock and glancing between the door and Chat.

“Ow!” Alya’s voice came from the other side and the Chat threw his arms in the air, clearly not knowing just what to do. This seemed to snap Marinette back to reality, and the girl scrambled to her feet. “Marinette?”

 “Sorry!” she said, her voice shaky and nervous, “I’m…” she looked around, flailing her arms as she tried to come up with an excuse.  _Any_   _excuse._ “… getting dressed!”

_“Still?”_

Marinette cringed, as she walked towards the latch, where Chat was still stepping over the opening, looking at her with an amused expression on his face. “I spilled something on my shirt… and… had to change,” she shook her head, aware of just how bad it her excuse was. “You know me!” her voice was higher than usual,

“Alright then…” Alya’s voice was hesitant, but at least they could hear her going down “I’ll be in the kitchen then…”

Her shoulders visibly relaxed and she looked up at Chat… who snickering under his breath. “Shut up!” she hissed, even as a small snicker slid past her lips, out of amusement or nervousness, no one could really tell. “This is  _not_ funny!”

“It’s a  _little_  funny…” he answered, grinning even more when he saw she was about to say something, so he reached for her and kissed her again, successfully quieting her.

“You are  _terrible,”_ she whispered, though she had relaxed a little more by now, since Alya was no longer  _right on the other side of the trapdoor._  “And you’re really lucky I can’t yell at you right now.”

“I  _know.”_ Chat said, a smug grin on his face, “This is very useful information.”

Marinette threw her arms up in the air. “I’m going to kill you.”

He winked at her and Marinette debated just  _how_ she could wipe that smug grin off of his face“No you’re not. You  _like_  me.” He said, booping her nose lightly. “No takebacks.”

She rolled her eyes, and pushed at his chest lightly, “Go.” she mouthed, waving him off towards the other exit. She seemed to think something for a second and perked up before he could actually could leave, “Wait!”

Marinette took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second. “Look, I know you saw…  _that_.” She said, blue eyes flickering towards the small bulletin board over his desk. “I’m just…” Marinette exhaled loudly. “I like you Chat, I really do… but,”

His hand cupped her face, thumb grazing her lips softly, interrupting her words “I know.”  He said, “I can wait.  _This…”_ Chat tapped the mask that obscured part of his face, “can wait too” Chat answered, even if he didn’t quite know how he was managing to act even remotely normal. ”Until you’re ready”

She nodded a small smile on her face. “Thank you.” She raised herself up on her toes and kissed him again, before glancing down at the door below them. “Now  _go_ , before Alya actually murders me.”

“I’m going, I’m going!” he said, kissing her again, before he glanced towards her still exposed neck. Chat leaned over, a small apologetic smile on his face “Uh… you might want to wear a scarf tonight.”

Marinette’s eyes widened as one of her hands flew to her neck, successfully covering a small red mark. Her lips opened and closed repeatedly but no sound came out. Chat could only  _imagine_  just what she was thinking right now, and he wasn’t sure it was precisely nice. “I…”

“ _Sorry_.”

“Go before I kill you.” She said, but the look on her face was more resigned amusement than annoyance.

He snorted, and kissed her cheek softly before scrambling all the way to the upper door. “I’ll see you soon Princess.”

Marinette was wrapping a soft scarf around her neck and she wiggled her fingers at him, a smile on her face.  

* * *

A couple of minutes later and Marinette was finally ready to face her friend. It hadn’t taken Marinette long to be ready, years of being late for school gave her the ability to get fixed up in a hurry. What she’d actually needed time for, was cooling down _._ She knew that she couldn’t just go and meet with Alya while  _still_  being a nervous mess. That would just lead to questions.

Especially since Chat had decided to give her a little going away present; currently covered with a scarf. She’d also let her hair down, she needed to put as many obstacles over it as humanly possible.

Unfortunately, Marinette’s little  _delay_  had made them too late to enter the showing they wanted, so they decided to go on to get something to eat and wait for another movie to start. Which lead to now; with Alya and Marinette sitting on a table at a foodcourt, several pieces of pizza between them as they talked. 

They had been eating for a while, chatting and reviewing their new movie choice, when Alya cleared her throat; ready to begin a  _new_ topic. “So,” Alya begun, breaking apart a slice and putting it on her plate. “Adrien seems friendlier lately…”

Marinette froze. “Uh… I guess?”

“You guess?” Alya’s eyebrow rose. “Girl, you know that this is not an  _‘I guess’_  type of answer. This is  _freaking huge!”_

“You’re blowing it out of proportion,” Marinette played it off, she just couldn’t get caught up in Adrien right now. “He’s just being polite.” she offered. “It’s not that big of a deal…”

“Polite?” Alya asked, clearly confused by Marinette. This was not the reaction Alya had hoped. “Do you not like him anymore?”

 _Ugh_. It was terrible to think about Adrien, especially after that  _kiss_ with Chat. Ugh. She felt her face heat up at the mere  _memory_ of that kiss. So it just felt terribly disloyal to be discussing  _her other crush,_ right after making out with one of them. It was just  _wrong._  Because she did like Chat, and she liked him a lot. And not just because the kissing was amazing; but… she really did like him. She’d gotten to know so much of him and he was just… so much more than she’d ever imagined.

But Adrien was still a presence in her mind, and if she wanted to be with Chat, she’d need to push that away. She needed to get over that crush, because it wouldn’t be fair to Chat, and she wanted to do things the right way.

Well, as right and normal as they could be, considering their complex situation.

“It’s not…  _that_.” Marinette said, pausing to look around nervously. One never knew who might be listening.  

“Then what is it?” Alya asked, lowering her voice to make sure no one  _did_ listen.

Marinette paused. How could she even begin to answer that? That she preferred not to think about Adrien, because it made her feel guilty about being with Chat. Marinette knew that she couldn’t very well explain this to Alya, because the girl would want to know  _who_ it was that she was seeing; and she couldn’t tell him that she was  _sort of_ seeing Chat Noir. And that she didn’t know who he was.

It was all very, very complicated.

So that left her with the only solution; that she had to lie.  _More_. She had to lie even more to her best friend. This was in no way the best solution; but it was the only thing she could do right now. “I’m just…” she paused, “I’d prefer not to get my hopes up?” she finally said, shrugging one shoulder lightly as she reached for a slice of pizza.

“Mari, I honestly  _doubt_ that you’d be getting your hopes up. Seriously.” Alya paused, chewing for a bit as she looked at her best friend. “I didn’t notice before, but Nino said something earlier and I started to pay attention. He looks at you  _all the time,_ I’m not even kidding. I think he actually really likes you.”

Marinette didn’t know what to say; because this was not something she was ready for. And she didn’t need this right now! “I…”  Marinette just couldn’t say anything in regards to Adrien, but thankfully, Alya had also given her something to change the subject. “Speaking of Nino…” she said, hoping that the switch would hold, “What happened today?”

Alya gave Marinette a look, clearly not impressed with the switch… but answered anyway. “What do you mean?”

“You disappeared from the lockers.” Marinette said, “I turned around and you weren’t there.”

“Ah.  _That.”_ Alya shrugged her shoulders, “Nino got bored of waiting for Adrien, who was lagging behind, by the way; just when you were taking your time at school…” Her left eyebrow rose,  _“Weird, huh?”_   She added, her voice filled with mirth.

Crap. Marinette’s plan wasn’t working, and they were back on Adrien. “But you weren’t there when we… when  _I_ was outside.” She added, doing her best not to let her little slip up be noticeable.

If Alya noticed, she didn’t say. “We… walked.” the girl said, “He has a lot of projects that we could do for the Ladyblog…”

Uh huh. For the  _ladyblog._ Marinette’s eyebrow raised, and she leaned forward, waiting for something more.  “ _And…”_ she pressed. There  _had_  to be something.

 _“_ We’ll work on them.” Alya said, before giving her friend a small look. “There was no kissing, in case that’s what you wanted to know.”

“Boo!” Marinette laughed, relaxing a little bit more.

“Sorry to disappoint, but he’s  _really shy_.” Alya said. “I think I will be the one to get things rolling on that matter if I want  _anything_ beyond talking to happen.”

Well, that was good. Because Nino came up with so many projects to work with Alya, that at first the two girls were extremely confused. But from what they could gather, all the projects gave excuses for him to talk to Alya on his own, which… if Marinette had to say, was pretty cute. However, they were waiting for some sort of development.

“Well,” Alya said, “I’ll let you know when I cross the  _First Kiss_  frontier.” she said, “Though you might be able to cross it soon, with the way Adrien keeps looking at you.”

Marinette’s only reply was a nervous high pitched giggle, and she waved her friend off. Right.  _First kisses._ The small hickey on her neck reminded her that she was well past  _that_ threshold, but she couldn’t share that with her best friend. Crap.

Time to change the subject…  _again_. “We should probably go back to the movies with time to spare, so we don’t miss the next showing.”

“Well, whose fault was that we missed the  _first one?”_ Alya asked, an amused look crossing her face.

“I said I was sorry!” Marinette said, shoulders drooping in defeat.  “I just… spilled something on my clothes… I had to change.” Lies, lies and more lies.  Marinette felt like she was the absolute  _worst person in the world._ “It was an  _accident_.”

Alya laughed, standing up from the table, ruffling her friend’s hair, “Oh I know. I’ve grown used to your random accidents, my friend,” Alya paused, as she grabbed her things to head back to the movie theater; “You could actually argue that it’s my fault,” she joked, “I should have planned around it, to tell the truth.”  

Marinette rolled her eyes, but stood up all the same. “Sure, one little accident or two and you’re branded for life.”

“Try a hundred little accidents.” Alya laughed, “But it adds to your charm.”

“Ha ha.” Marinette stuck her tongue out at Alya, which the girl returned with a silly face of her own as they walked towards the movies, joking amongst themselves as they walked.

* * *

It was a surprising change to go to sleep at a  _decent time._ Marinette had even gone on patrol after getting home, hoping to run into Chat; but she couldn’t find him. In the end, she’d only made sure that there were nothing bad going on and had simply ended up going back home. She had actually fallen asleep earlier than she had since she’d started talking with Chat.

It made a world of difference when she woke up the following morning. She had actually made it to school at a decent time, and hadn’t needed to grab a cup filled with steaming and overtly caffeinated drink to feel like a living person.

It was a good change.

Classes began, and they all paid attention to the teacher. It was a normal day… except for one small detail. Adrien wasn’t there. Now, Marinette was _desperately_ curious about it; but couldn’t find the courage to ask either Nino or Alya. 

Nino, because it would be glaringly obvious; and Alya… well, because after their conversation last night… she just  _knew_ that Alya was on high alert when it came to her and Adrien.  And Marinette did not want to give her any more fodder.

Especially today, since she  _still_  had to wear a scarf to cover for Chat’s little gift. She just hoped she wouldn’t forget it was there, because there was no way Marinette could explain her way out of  _that_.  

She would hate to admit it, but on one hand, she was  _definitely_  curious about Adrien’s whereabouts. But on the other hand, it was nice to be able to relax, and not think about the confusing mess that was her love life right now. Marinette  _needed_  to have some quiet time to be able to sort out her feelings for the two boys.

Soon, they were let out for recess, and Marinette and Alya were sitting on a bench, sharing a small bag of M&Ms as they talked about the movie they’d just seen. Alya had absolutely loved it, and the girl had already several theories about the upcoming sequels, which she was showing to Marinette, fully backed up with pictures from the internet and videos.

“Did you even sleep last night?” Marinette laughed, pouring some candy on her hand and then into her mouth. The amount of research and information that her friend handled wast just not normal. 

“Just enough to be alive.” That was Alya’s answer as she tapped her phone, another picture coming up.

Marinette laughed and leaned over, listening to how the superhero couldn’t really be dead because of all the hidden foreshadowing in the movie.

It was then when Marinette heard  _it_.

_“I’m going to make like a banana and split.”_

Marinette recognized that joke. She also recognized the  _delivery._ The girl perked up almost instantly.  _Chat._ She had to force herself to sit back down and act normal. Because, first, she couldn’t very well run towards him in public, it was dangerous, and second, there was probably a reason for Chat Noir to be nearby, and it was probably best to make sure that it wasn’t because of actual danger.

But, there was no screaming, so it seemed that it wasn’t danger. Marinette turned her face, so that she could still face Alya, but would be able to see Chat out of the corner of her eye, and find out just what her favorite stray was up to right now.

But it wasn’t Chat. In fact, it was a whole different blond.

 _Adrien?_ Marinette felt a cold chill run up her back the moment the realization hit.  _No. This couldn’t be._  But as Nino chastised his friend for the terrible,  _terrible_  pun, the grin the lit up Adrien’s face was one that she was very,  _very familiar with._ Actually,she’d been pretty up close and personal to that grin just yesterday.

Oh no.

Marinette felt an M&M fall out of her open mouth and she scrambled to catch it before anyone noticed, coughing to cover up for her blunder as her mind reeled with the discoveries.

“Eeeew!” Alya laughed, taking the bag from her hands and taking out some candies for herself. “And  _I’m_ the one with little sleep today.”

Well, it was good that Alya took the bag from her hands, since Marinette  had been  _pretty close_  to dropping the whole bag on the floor. Her eyes flickered towards Adrien who had just turned to look at her. Their gazes locked for a second and Marinette  _died_  when she saw his green eyes flicker towards the scarf currently wrapped around her neck, a glint of recognition flashing on his face. Like he  _knew_ what the scarf was hiding.

_Oh no._


	5. Do you know?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Marinette cannot even and Alya has no chill.

_Oh no._

His eyes held her gaze and Marinette’s breath hitched. Oh no, Oh no, Oh. No. All the pieces were falling into place, and Marinette really wasn’t sure she was ready to face what it meant. No, scratch that, she was _definitely_ not ready to face what that meant.

 _Was it normal to hear your own heartbeat in your head?_ Because that a thing that was happening to Marinette right now.

It was pretty surprising that she hadn’t started screaming the moment the pieces started falling into place. But then again, that just might have been because her brain had pretty much just stopped working from the sheer shock of the whole situation. 

Marinette was pretty sure that her brain was almost a hundred percent engaged in keeping her breathing and in an upright position.

Because, how could Adrien be Chat Noir? It didn’t make any sense to her, because in what world could sweet, shy, kind, smart and gorgeous _Adrien Agreste_ be Chat Noir? This was because Chat was an absolute flirt, with a terrible sense of humor. Granted, he’d made her laugh plenty of times, and he was always a perfect gentleman, but still… puns and silly jokes. Sure, Marinette might be at fault, since she gave him a book to support his little pun habit, but that was not important right now.

But _really_ , how could Adrien be Chat? Because they were definitely not alike! Sure, Chat was bright and smart, so sweet and kind; characteristics she was now beginning to realize, she’d used to describe Adrien as well. _Hmm_. Clearly Marinette was not as bright as she’d like to think she was. Because she should have only taken one look at his smile and figured it out right away. How had she missed it? His smile was _all_ Chat when he was joking around, like he was just now; the perfect mix of charm and playfulness. And now, the worried look on his stupidly pretty green eyes was the same Chat got when she got hurt, or he was concerned about anything.

How did she miss it? He wasn’t always Chat; but now that the pieces were beginning to fall into place, she could definitely see it. Some glimpses here and there, small subdued gestures that helped blend the lines.

Marinette remembered now, how Alya had showed her the crude photo edit of Adrien as Chat Noir, and just how much she’d laughed at the idea. Marinette had dismissed it right away, because it was just a completely outlandish idea to think of Chat and Adrien as the same person. Well, if Alya knew just how _right_ she got it, she’d find the whole situation completely hilarious. 

She just couldn’t stop thinking about it. And it was terrible, because right now, this new knowledge meant that she was switching around every memory. Every little night talk, every little moment, was switched around to fit around the revelation. 

She had been _making out with Adrien Agreste all this time._

Marinette made a sound that could only be described as a _meep_ , as the idea settled into her head, She had been making out with Adrien. _Repeatedly_. On her rooftop balcony. Ooh; she had actually tackled him just a couple of days ago. 

Oh no. Just yesterday, they’d had a little moment on the lounge chair in her room. Marinette made a sound that could only be described as a _squeak,_ once another realization hit. _Adrien Agreste had given her a hickey!_ Willingly. A hickey she was currently trying to hide. And even more, had Alya not arrived when she did, she might have given Cha… _Adrien_ one.

To tell the truth, Marinette wasn’t exactly sure just how long she’d been quiet.  Or whether Alya was still talking to her, which was something that should have worried way more than it was right now. But Marinette was currently channeling her energy into _not screaming._

It took Alya to snap her fingers in front of her face for Marinette to come back to reality. “Are you okay?” the girl asked, a concerned look on her face.

“I… uh. I just spaced out a little.” She said, feeling that her voice was somewhat higher than it should have been. “I… I’m going to go to the bathroom, be right back!” she exclaimed, running away before Alya had been able to say anything.

She’d walked with as much calm and dignity as she could muster, but once she was sure that no one was going to see her, she hurried up as much as humanly possible and slammed the door closed behind her. 

The bathroom was empty, which was just about the best thing that had happened to her today, and Marinette leaned against the closed door, her eyes closed as she tried to catch her breath. 

Alright. To sum things up. Adrien was Chat. Chat was Adrien. Marinette had been making out with both.

“Marinette?” Tikki’s voice interrupted her little moment, and safe on the knowledge that they were alone, the little kwami emerged from the purse that housed her all day. “Are you okay?”

“Tikki, is this happening right now or am I just going crazy?” Marinette questioned, fully aware of what the answer was.

The small creature shrugged her little shoulders, clearly not sure on how to proceed. “It’s happening and… you’re right. It is him.” she said, with enough certainty to make Marinette begin pacing again.

“I can’t do this right now!” She exclaimed, “Tikki, you know what’s been happening!” Marinette exclaimed, blue eyes wide as she motioned around her scarf, “I can’t face him, not yet!”

Tikki clearly did not approve of this plan, “But Marinette!” the kwami began, “he needs to know too!”

“He’s always known it’s me!” Marinette hissed, pacing around in the bathroom, double and triple checking for anyone hearing. “And I _just_ found out!” 

“And you’ve always know that you’re… _you know._ ” Tikki said, “And that’s something _he_ might want to know as well!”

Marinette stopped in her tracks, and Tikki knew that she’d gotten at least somewhere with her. “You’re right,” She breathed, blue eyes widened in a panic. “But I really can’t face him _now.”_

Tikki exhaled loudly, “you have to go back to class soon, you know,”  

The first answer from Marinette was a sharp intake of breath and a quick glance at the screen on her cellphone. Their next class was about to start soon, so if she didn’t think of something, she was going to have to go back and face a lot of questions she was not ready to answer just yet.

 “Oh no.” She mumbled, squirming in place as she plotted out her next move.  “What if…” she looked around, hands flailing about as she searched for inspiration. Suddenly, inspiration struck… “Girl problems.” She whispered, her face brightening once the idea began taking form in her mind.

Tikki was absolutely confused. “What?”

“I’m having girl problems.” Marinette began tapping away on her phone to find Alya’s contact information.

“But… you’re not!” Tikki pointed out, a frown on her tiny face.

“I know that, but… I’m just buying time until I know what to say to him.”

“Marinette…” Tikki began, and Marinette could have shrunk in place at the sheer disappointment on the kwami’s voice.

But she’d already sent the message, and she had left was flee home and hope she’d be able to fool the adults she needed to, for this to work. “I’ll fix this, Tikki. I promise!”

The look on Tikki’s face clearly told Marinette that she had _yet_ to hear the end of this.

* * *

And what was Marinette to do when the magical creature you partnered with, who gave you magical powers to battle evil, and who usually was very, very proud and supportive of everything she did, was clearly disappointed with the way she had handled discovering that her partner in battling crime was also the boy she’d had a crush on for ages?

Delay. Delay the inevitable.

Which was how Marinette had ended up texting Alya during the afternoon, and had set up a little slumber party for the two of them. And so she left her parents home, carrying her pajamas, and an offer of some pastries from the shop and snack food to last them through the night.

The good thing about this particular plan, was that Alya’s house was loud. _Very_ loud, which made sense, considering the fact that Alya had younger and very energetic siblings, but to tell the truth, Marinette welcomed the change.

Marinette’s home life was quiet, with her being an only daughter, which was usually fine, since it meant that she had peace and quietness in her room. But right now, quietness would lead thinking and that wasn’t something she wanted to deal with right now. 

Granted, Alya had been a little bit surprised at Marinette’s idea, but she’d agreed to it quickly. With being Ladybug, and well, Chat’s little visits… She felt like she had abandoned her best friend duties. Because sure, they still talked and texted, but they didn’t spend as much time together. But with the excuse of class president things to review, Marinette and Alya were set for a sleepover.

Besides, she had acted a little bit crazy today at school. And she knew that Alya was going to be curious for answers; and knowing her best friend, it was best to offer them to her than to wait for Alya to find things out on her own. The balance she’d constructed in her double life was hanging by a thread, and she needed to be careful.

The evening had started with video games with Alya’s little siblings, but after Alya’s mom told them all to go to bed, the two friends had set up camp in Alya’s room, carrying enough snacks to last them through the night.

Alya tugged out the pull out bed under her own, clearing her throat before speaking, “So,” she began, and Marinette cringed, just knowing what was about to happen. “What was with the spaz out today?”

“Uh…” Marinette began, holding a bowl filled with cheesy snacks and some soft drinks, fully aware that she was not leaving this house without at least answering _some_ of the questions she’d avoided so far. In a way, she sort of welcomed the chance to get some things off of her chest, even if she had to be extremely careful of what she said, to make sure that she didn’t give out any more information than what she needed to.

The problem was, that there was something absolutely nerve wracking about confessing something as important as this; and while Marinette did want to tell Alya at least some of it, there was a streak of nervousness that prompted her to deflect, and delay the inevitable (she’d done that all day, just ask Tikki). “What do you mean?” She’d confess! Really! But could anyone blame her for wanting to be at least settled in comfortable before they broached such difficult topics?

Besides, Alya needed to work on her timing, _honestly_. Marinette looked away, as she placed the snacks on a safe surface and crawled on top of the bed.

The look on Alya’s face told her exactly what she thought of her very flimsy attempt to deflect.  “ _Mhmm_.” She hummed, but helped with the blankets nonetheless. They fell into a quiet spell for a while, as Alya set up the little do-it-yourself projector she’d built based on a YouTube tutorial. The cardboard box, along some small speakers gave the two girls enough of a screen to project their favorite movies in a bigger screen than their computers or available TV screens would allow.

Alya pressed play on a video from youtube and turned back to Marinette, “Well, as to what I meant. There are a bunch of things that come to mind,” Alya said, crawling on top of her bed, as Marinette did the same on the lower bed.  “I could start with The Amazing M&M Waterfall,” Alya began, holding up her fingers as she listed the issues, “then… whatever happened with Adrien today at recess,” another finger went up, “And you fled the school.” Alya nodded, taking notice of the bashful look on her best friend’s face but, she’d asked.  “I mean, there’s the surprise slumber party; but I’m okay with that, but to tell you the truth we usually plan ahead a little more.”

Marinette cringed a little, hoping that Alya’s uncanny ability to read her was the reason for the detailed list, and not because Marinette had been as obvious as it sounded she’d been. “It wasn’t that bad, was it?”

Alya’s right eyebrow raised before she answered, “Girl, you squeaked several times before fleeing the scene. It was bad.” she told Marinette, her voice amused but slightly sympathetic.

Marinette wrinkled her nose, “But no one noti…”

“They did.” Alya interrupted her, her voice gentler, “But since you left, they thought you were actually sick. So I guess that was a good move.”

It was a little relief for Marinette, but that this moment she’d take it.

“So,” Alya pressed, “What was all that today? And does have anything to do with that hickey you’re hiding?”

A strangled squeak left Marinette’s lips, and she fidgeted with the scarf she still had on.

“Mari, I saw it back at school, you’re really not as careful with that as you think you are.” Alya rolled her eyes, even if a small amused smile played on her face when Marinette _meeped_ , “Now take that off before you strangle yourself in your sleep.”

Marinette sighed and removed the scarf, cringing when Alya’s eyes widened, brown eyes clearly focused on the mark on her neck. “Don’t stare!” she whined, placing her hands on her neck. She had yet more reasons to murder that cat when she saw him.

“Well… that was some good neckin’,” Alya laughed, excitement bubbling out of every word. Alya rolled on her stomach, propping her chin up with her hands as she looked down at her friend, an excited grin on her face. “And I don’t think you _understand_ the amount of questions I have about this.”  Marinette looked downright resigned to her fate, which was all the agreement Alya needed to continue, before holding up one finger, “One. _When_ did this happen?”

Marinette didn’t answer at first. Mainly because she wasn’t sure just how much information she could give out to Alya without betraying either her or Adrien’s secret. “Yesterday.” Marinette replied, her voice barely above a whisper as she braced herself for Alya’s reaction.

Alya nodded, processing the information for a couple of seconds, before a surprised look took over her face. “OH MY GOD!” she exclaimed, before lowering her voice, “Was that why you closed the door on me?” She asked, and the guilty nod on Marinette’s face told her everything she needed to know. Alya sat up on the bed, making a disbelieving noise as her arms flailed wildly. “He was in your room?”

Marinette wasn’t able to answer, instead covering her face with her hands before nodding weakly. This was a mistake. Alya was not going to let it go, she just knew it.

“Wow…” Alya breathed, “Alright, second question, was it Adrien?”

This was rather complicated to explain, because Marinette was still coming to terms with the fact that Adrien was Chat, and therefore it was the model, she’d gotten acquainted with. “Mhmm,” Marinette hummed in response, nodding her head as she waited for Alya’s reaction.

Her best friend didn’t disappoint, “I knew it!” Alya exploded, “there was a reason he’s been looking at you like he has!” The bespectacled girl wiggled in excitement, “Well, now…” Alya’s “Are you secretly dating Adrien? And you _didn’t tell me?!”_

“What?!” Marinette exclaimed, “I am not dating him!”

Alya gasped, clearly shocked at this particular turn of events, “Ooooh, Juicy!” she grinned at Marinette’s embarrassment, before frowning… this had clearly not gone the path Alya had expected, “wait. Why aren’t you dating?”

“Uh…” There was no good way for Marinette to explain this. “It’s really complicated.”

“You do know he seems pretty okay with that idea, right?”  Alya explained, “He looked like a lost puppy when I told him you were sick and had to go.”

Marinette figured that he was more like a lost kitten, but that was neither here nor there.

Alya cringed, clearly concluding that the silence and horrified expression on her best friend’s face as a concession. “Oh no! Is he a bad kisser?” She gave her best friend a sympathetic look, before pausing and pointing at Marinette’s neck. “Although, _that_ , doesn’t suggest bad kissing though. You clearly enjoyed yourself long enough to let him bite you.”

“Oh my God!” Marinette took the pillow from under her head and covered her face, feeling her face heat up so badly that she might just spontaneously combust from all the embarrassment. “I’m going home.” She said, her voice muffled under the pillow

“No, you’re not,” Alya laughed, propping her head on her hands as she looked down at her friend. “I can’t believe this!” she exclaimed before gasping, and going right back into her interview mode, “Do your parents know?”

Marinette shook her head.  

“How does he sneak into…”

Marinate made a loud noise, successfully interrupting Alya. She sat up on the bed, crossing her legs under her as she hid behind a pillow. There was just no way of explaining the way Chat snuck into her house without completely giving up both their secrets. “Please don’t ask me that.”

Alya paused, her curiosity clearly not satisfied just yet, but Marinette looked awkward enough that she was willing to ease up a little. “I can’t believe you kept this a secret!”

Well, Marinette couldn’t quite believe it either, but the circumstances were really, really tough to explain.  “I know. I’m really sorry,” she told Alya, her voice slightly muffled by the pillow.

Big blue eyes were blinking up at Alya, contrition evident in them. 

Alya sighed, she was always a softie when it came to her best friend, “Pfft.” Alya said, rolling her eyes at Marinette. “Well, then… _why_ aren’t you dating him?”

It was far more complicated than Marinette could even begin to explain. “The thing is…” Marinette began, hoping that the fact that she was clearly making this up as she spoke wasn’t _too_ noticeable; “I’m just really overwhelmed with everything… you know, he’s just so famous and there are so many things that I need to take into consideration…” Marinette could kick herself, this felt like giving out a presentation she had not studied for. “He has fangirls Alya, real fangirls. I’m just a normal person… I don’t know if I’m equipped to deal with that.”

Alya did not look impressed. “That’s it?”

Marinette blinked repeatedly. For a second there, she thought she had _nailed it._ But the look on Alya’s face told her that she had clearly failed in convincing her best friend as to why she wasn’t dating the boy of her dreams. “It’s not something small!” She insisted.

“Well, no.” Alya said, “But if that’s all that’s stopping you… did you actually really like him?”

Well, that was a punch right on the feelings. Because Marinette knew that she liked him, after all that was the main issue here. She liked Chat and she liked Adrien. It was the shock of finding out that both of them were the same person that threw her off. Marinette was just trying to find a way to deal with the needed to find a way to deal with the knowledge she’d just acquired. “It’s not that!”

“Well,” Alya began, “you like him, he likes you… I really don’t see the big deal here! You clearly get along on _some level_ , judging by the evidence he left on you,” She pushed up her glasses, before tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Is that all there is?” Alya asked, worried brown eyes glancing down at her defeated best friend. “Because I know that Adrien kind of brings out your crazy, but this is a bit too much even for you.”

“I know,” Marinette answered, hunching a little as she hugged the pillow she’d been hiding behind, “And it’s more than that…” Marinette explained, “If _that_  was all there was, it would be so much easier,” Marinette sighed, rubbing her temples, “I’m working through things, Alya; I’m getting there.”

“Good.” Alya said, “I don’t think Nino and I can deal with mutual pining and no resolution. That just makes for a bad movie.” she affectionately ruffled the top of Marinette’s hair, causing her best friend to swat at her hand like a tiny angry kitten. “Really, we’re in the same class with Chloé, meaning that we spend almost every day, all day with her… and it’s fangirls that spook you out?”

When Alya said it that way, Marinette could definitely understand the reaction. “I know…” Marinette sighed, flopping back on the bed, her eyes looking up at the ceiling.

Alya looked satisfied for now. “Now, I’ll pick the movie, and since you’re a bad friend who keeps _important secrets_ from me… you lose veto power.”  

The movie chosen was about superheroes, a genre Alya was quite invested in, which came as no surprise for Marinette, but she wasn’t really paying that much attention to the plot, but considering that Alya’s phone kept on buzzing with texts messages… Marinette did not feel bad at all.

"What are you doing?” she finally asked, once the phone buzzed for… she’d lost count what time it was.

Alya’s reply was short and painfully obvious. “Texting.” 

“… figured that much,” Marinette said, rolling her eyes.

“It’s Nino.” Alya said, giving her friend a sly look as she tapped something on the screen.

“Oh.” Marinette perked up, “You’re texting now?” she inquired, “Is it about something for the Ladyblog or something else?”

An odd look crossed Alya’s face. “…Something else…Yes. Completely unrelated.”

Maybe it was the fact that they’d dimmed the lights for the movie, but Marinette completely missed the look on Alya’s face, “That’s good, right?” Marinette said, her voice excited at the prospect, “you two texting…”

“Oh, definitely,” Alya nodded, turning off the screen after replying to the last text. “But I’m telling him now that I’m watching a movie with you, so we should turn back to the movie” Alya said, before the phone buzzed again. “He says hi and for us to have fun.”

“Oh, that’s sweet of him,” Marinette said, before turning back to the movie. “Tell him I said hi too.”

“Will do!” Alya said, glad that her friend was looking at the projected movie, as an awkward look flashed on her face. Once the final text went out, she turned her attention back to the movie, and Alya finally did so too.

Little more than an hour later, the movie was over, and given the large consumption of sugared drinks, they were still awake. “So,” Alya began, her voice sweet and innocent, “You know what we haven’t done this year yet?”

“What?”

“Ice skating!” Alya grinned, clearly excited about the prospect, “All that ice in the movie reminded me of that. So… what are you doing tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Marinette began, shrugging her shoulders as she thought … other than homework, there was really nothing else she had planned. “I don’t know…”

“They just set it up,” Alya pushed, looking giddy at the prospect, “so if you don’t have plans with Prince Charming… then we could go!”

The look on Marinette’s face was thoughtful, even if she blushed just a little at the mention of _Prince Charming_ , “I don’t have plans, to tell the truth,” She began, beginning to catch her friend’s excitement over the idea. “Which rink should we go to?”

“hmmm, either Eiffel or Trocadero?” Alya offered, “We could go get some hot chocolate or something to eat afterwards?”

Marinette smiled, and huddled under the covers of her bed. “That sounds like a good idea,”

“Then, it’s settled.” Alya said, “Did you bring clothes for tomorrow? We can go straight from here!”

“I didn’t bring anything good for skating,” Marinette answered, frowning a little, “But we can stop at my house and I can change really fast.”  

“Deal!”

* * *

Adrien was absolutely disheartened as he came back home, releasing his transformation the minute his feet touched the floor in his room. Marinette hadn’t been home; and after the look on her face at school, he knew that something was terribly wrong.

Plagg stretched his tiny limbs as he floated to rest on Adrien’s desk, watching the boy pace around his room. “Kid, you okay?”

“No.” Adrien answered, “Nothing worked out tonight, Plagg. Nothing.” He had meant to talk to Ladybug, and then go meet Marinette and hopefully fix everything before it really spired out of control.  

But since he really didn’t have luck on his side, not only was he not able to find Ladybug, but Marinette wasn’t home. He’d tapped on the glass trapdoor above her bed, and he’d even opened it, after having no response. But after peeking inside, he realized that she was just not there, and probably hadn’t been there in hours.

“Relax!” Plagg’s voice was slightly exasperated, but Adrien stopped pacing nonetheless, “Alright. Plan A didn’t work, so what can we do now?”

“I really should let Ladybug know before I talk to Marinette.”

“Uuuh.” Plagg began, his voice flat and matter-of-fact, “I think that ship has sailed.”  He floated off the desk to hover right in front of Adrien’s face, “did you not see the look on the girl’s face? She definitely knows.”

“but…”

“Kid, you’re going to end up with one angry heroine and minus one girlfriend. I’m thinking you need to adjust the plan to lower those odds to _just_ the angry heroine.” Plagg seemed quite convinced of his plans and added. “You know what I say… better to say sorry than to ask for permission…”

Exasperated green eyes focused on the kwami, “That’s pretty much your motto.” Adrien grumbled. 

Plagg didn’t even try to look ashamed, instead focusing his attention on his right paw, “That’s because it works.” he told him, before looking up, “trust me, I’ve been around for thousands of years. I know what I’m doing.”

Somehow, he wasn’t sure of that, but as of right now, Plagg was his best choice for guidance. Adrien sighed loudly and sat down on his bed, fingers massaging his temples, “So, you say I should just talk to Marinette?”

“I’m saying that you need to start adjusting your plans from time to time.” Plagg said, “Besides, if she knows… you _have_ to find out how you’re going to handle this. Secret identity and all that… you know.”

“She wouldn’t say anything…”

“Better to make sure!” Plagg insisted, “you can’t wait until Ladybug is around! You have to make sure that your little girlfriend will play along with the secret!”

Adrien sighed, dropping on his back on the mattress, covering his face with his hands,  “I will…”

The smartphone he’d left on his desk buzzed and Adrien perked up. “Who is it?” He asked Plagg, knowing the kwami would glance at it out of sheer curiosity.

Plagg looked at the lit up screen, “Nino.”

Adrien pushed up and off the bed and reached for the phone. It was kind of late for Nino to be texting. Best to find out what his best friend needed.

* * *

There was something enchanting about Paris in the winter, especially around the holidays. Sure, it was a bit crowded with tourists, but Marinette loved it The two girls walked between the different stands, most of which were already done and set up for the season, but some of them were still closed and getting ready for when the real influx of tourist started. The good news was that their favorite stands for hot beverages and snacks seemed to be open, which settled their plans for after skating.

Gliding through the ice was just what Marinette needed, just a moment of thoughtless fun, and not worrying. Alya had snapped a few pictures of them before returning to her usual mission of trying to conquer a jumping turn.  

Marinette cheered her on from a distance, she wasn’t too interested in mastering the acrobatics in ice skating, being more content with just gliding around easily and making wide turns. Besides, after the sixth time Alya tumbled on the ground, the whole thing kind of lost its appeal.

But the good thing, was that this solo skating had given Marinette enough time to think things through. She was going to talk to Adrien. It was the only thing that made sense, given everything that had happened… she couldn’t avoid him! She went to school with him and she was his partner… it was the right thing to do.

They could figure things out together, once it was all out in the open. 

“Okay. I’m done.” Alya’s voice startled her, and she looked up to see her friend skate towards her, a playful grin lighting up her flushed face. “I’ve fallen on my ass way too many times already.”

“You did almost get it that one time,” Marinette offered, “I’d say that’s the closest I’ve seen.”

“I know!” Alya said, as the two friends began skating towards the exit. “I’m actually proud of myself, I’m just stopping because I think my ass is halfway frozen and that’s just not okay with me.”

Marinette snorted as they reached the exit and carefully waddled towards an empty bench. “This is why I try to keep away from elaborate tricks I have _never_ practiced for.” Her fingers began tugging at the laces, freeing her feet from the skates.

“It would make my success even more amazing,” Alya said, “I can be an Ice Skating Prodigy.”

“Prodigy? Really?” Marinette laughed as she finally pulled the skates off her feet and got her own shoes back on.  

Alya laughed, “Shut it.” she began, “don’t kill my dreams.”

“Sorry.” she apologized, but the grin on Marinette’s was absolutely unapologetic. 

Alya stood up, stretching her sore limbs before speaking, “Alright. So… I’ll return the rentals and get our deposit back, and then I have to go to the ladies room.” Alya looked around, before asking, “would you mind going to get us some hot chocolate while I do that?”

Marinette shrugged, “sounds fine by me.” Her hands were feeling a bit coldish, so the idea of getting away from the ice sounded kind of good. Besides, the faster she got in line, the sooner they’d get their treat. Marinette adjusted her pink beanie on her head, making sure the tips of her ears were properly covered from the outside cold, “We’ll meet there then.” she told Alya, who was ready to leave as well.

“Deal! I’ll be there in like… five minutes. _Tops_.” Alya grinned and swiftly picked up the skates before flouncing away towards the rental place.  

“Okay!” Marinette called out to her friend, before turning away and heading towards the stands. This particular stand was a regular in the festival, and it usually sold several kinds of coffee, tea based drinks, and what brought them today. An extensive menu of hot chocolate, ranging from the simple to the extremely gourmet.  

Marinette walked towards the familiar spot, before she realized sonething,  _Oh, crap._ Alya hadn’t told her what she wanted. Marinette turned around, a frown on her face as she looked for her best friend, but she was nowhere to be seen. She reached for her phone, checking if Alya had sent her anything via texts, but there were no notifications. She quickly texted Alya, asking for any particular preferences, but the line was short enough by now that she got through before Alya replied. 

“Um… melted hot chocolate with sea salt whipped cream and one…” she paused, mentally choosing among Alya’s usual favorites, ” cardamom hot chocolate.” Marinette paid the order and the vendor handed her a little chip with a number and informed her that she would be called once her order was up.

“Thank you!” She said, turning around and ran smack into someone. “Oh, I’m so so…” she said, taking a clumsy step back to apologize properly but the rest of her apology died on her lips, the air whooshing out of her lips as Marinette found herself inches from the one person she’d been freaking out about.  

Adrien. Of course it had to be Adrien. There was no reason her day should go any other way!

“Don’t wor…” he said, before he glanced down at her, his eyes widening almost comically once he saw her, lips parted slightly as the rest of his words died suddenly.

 _Crap_.

“Hi!” Marinette broke the silence first, her fingers fidgeting with the chip from the stand. 

“Hi…” Adrien’s voice was tight, and his whole demeanor was stiff, something she had never quite seen before. “You’re feeling better now?”

Better? The look on Marinette’s face was pure confusion, until she remembered that she had supposedly been sick. “Right!” She answered, her voice higher than what she wanted it to be right now, her nervousness betraying her in every possible way. “Yeah, I’m feeling better. Thank you for asking.”

They fell into an awkward silence, which was something that Marinette just couldn’t deal with right now, so she began rambling, “I’m getting hot chocolate for me and Alya.” she blurted out, holding up the little chip nervously. Sure, she had decided that she would talk to him, but she would have preferred to have a little time to give herself a pep talk first.

“I was going to do the same. With Nino. Who was here just now…” he said, looking nervously around for his quickly disappearing friend.

Marinette bit her lower lip nervously, before catching his gaze wander towards the gesture, making a furious blush appear on her face before she looked away. It was then when she caught a glimpse of a red cap and Alya’s teal colored beanie slip away between the crowds.

“They ran.” Marinette stated, her answer making Adrien turn around swiftly, and helping him catch his friend in the act, as he fled the scene with Alya.

They’d been _ambushed_.

They were both able to deduce this much, because the look of sheer awkward horror that they saw on each other’s face mirrored just what they were feeling. Marinette was going to murder Nino and Alya when she saw them, and she was sure that it was the reason they’d ran away as far as they had so fast.

Marinette fidgeted with the ends of the scarf wrapped around her neck, not really knowing how to start the conversation that was pending between the two of them.

Thankfully, Adrien decided that he needed to know and after a few more agonizing seconds of silence, he spoke, “You know, don’t you?” he finally asked, feeling his chest tighten as he waited for her answer

Marinette nodded, “I… yes.” she kept her gaze down, focused on both their shoes, as she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stand the expression on his face.

On the other side, Adrien just wanted to _see_ her face and try to read just how she was feeling about this whole mess they were in, “What gave it away?”

She chuckled, not really sure how else to handle just how nervous she was, “You used the same joke on Nino that you used on me.”

His eyes widened, even if he’d pretty much figured just where he’d slipped, but actually hearing it coming from her was still a bit of a surprise. A self-conscious chuckle left his lips. “Really?” It was just his luck that it’d be something really stupid that would give him away.

She chanced a glance up to his face, finding the blush that tinged his cheeks absolutely endearing. “After that… It kind of made sense.” That and the fact that Adrien looked like he clearly knew just what she was hiding underneath that scarf, but she preferred not to mention that little bit of information out loud. Because everything about this conversation, especially the fact that they were having it in public, in the middle of a crowded market… it was just a bit too much to handle.

He exhaled loudly, shifting his weight nervously from one leg to the other, looking absolutely remorseful. It was his fault, _really_. He knew that Marinette was very smart. He’d spent so much time talking to her and just sharing with her that he should have expected this outcome much sooner. But the last time he’d visited her, he’d been just so _giddy_ when he realized that she liked him, and the only reason for her to put the brakes into what was happening between them was the fact that she liked him, with and without the mask. After that, he’d just gotten too set on what his perfect plan was supposed to be and he’d missed what had been a very good opportunity.

He really should have tried to tell her right away, but it was just always easier to know what the right choices was _after_ everything had happened.

“I really didn’t want you to find out like this.” He explained, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “I…” he started, but her hand on her arm interrupted him.

“This… Is a really bad place to have this conversation,” She whispered, teeth worrying her lower lip as she glanced around nervously.

“I know.” He said, “I’m just…”

“I know.” Marinette began, taking a deep breath, as she tried to gather the courage to say what she knew she had to tell him. She took a deep breath,  “First… I believe you.”

This seemed to appease him a little, but Adrien was nowhere near close to relaxed, “I meant everything I said.” he interrupted her, “everything. But I’m not going to push…” his voice trailed off, and he glanced around,  trying to find any place where they could be alone to talk. 

Because baring your feelings to someone without a mask was not very easy when tourist were walking around you. 

Her mouth opened and closed several times, but she wasn’t able to find the right word to begin what needed to say. Honestly, she was going to murder Alya. Now, she knew that her best friend was only trying to help her, and as usual, she had only the best intentions; but there was a matter of location and timing that needed to be factored into this particular conversation and, well… this little ambush was not conductive to let them talk about what they needed to discuss!  

Because it was just really hard to have the conversation they _needed_ to have when they were purposefully trying to be as vague as they could be. Somehow saying something like _‘So. I’m okay with you being Chat Noir because I’m Ladybug’_ , wasn’t really easy to blurt out.

Adrien was growing increasingly anxious about everything, even if the fact that she had yet to leave him alone somewhat helped. “I guess you’re probably upset…” He sighed, his voice soft and quiet, “I promise, this is not what I wanted to happen,” Adrien reiterated, a grimace on his handsome face “but I have to ask… did you tell anyone?”

Her eyes widened, and she made a small sound in the back of her throat, “What?” She looked absolutely floored by the question, “w… no, of _course_ not!”  Marinette held her hands up; granted, Alya knew, but she only knew half of the situation, just enough for Alya to plan this harebrained plot to get her to talk to him, and of course, dragging Nino along, “Adrien, I really…” The sound of people screaming interrupted her, and made both of them perk up, focusing their glances towards the disturbance almost automatically.

An Akuma. Of course. Because their day just couldn’t get any better.

Marinette wondered just what was up with her luck lately, and whether this was Tikki’s way of punishing her for not handling things correctly right away. 

Adrien’s eyes quickly narrowed as he realized that he needed to transform. His hand closed around Marinette’s and pulled her away, eager to find a spot to transform and to get her as away from the danger as he could, considering that he didn’t have the powers that his suit gave him.

“But Adrien!” she began, eager to tell him that he really, really didn’t need to save her, but he was relentless. 

He spotted an empty stand, one that was clearly still being worked around and not quite ready for business. It was their best choice. “Just trust me, okay?” he told her, “I have to keep you safe.”

It was that particular phrase the one that absolutely  _disarmed_ her. This was why she’d fallen for the stupid cat, and somehow, seeing this display of protective determination on Adrien was just too much for her to deal with right now. 

The girl sighed, and began running along, “fine.” she said, and Adrien relaxed, though he was almost positive that he heard her mutter something about _stupid stubborn cats._


End file.
